•I 5" 



GUIDE TO FORESTRY 



BOOK ONE 

BY 

JOSEPH S. ILLICK 
Bulletin 26 




PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY 
R. Y. Stuart, Commissioner. 



GUIDE TO FORESTRY 



BOOK ONE 

BY 

JOSEPH S. ILLICK 



Bulletin 2b> 



mm 



PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY 
R. Y. Stuart, Commissioner 



■ 



LIBRARY OF CONQness 

DECEIVED 

0CT301222 



"J'OCUMtl 




• Iff 



FOREST GUIDES 

The Pennsylvania Department of Forestry recognizes that the 
Boy Scout movement is one of the most valuable agencies in the 
State for the elimination of FOREST FIRE. With the approval 
of National Boy Scout Headquarters, the Department has adopted 
the official designation, Pennsylvania Forest Guides, to be conferred 
on any registered member of the Boy Scouts of America, resident 
of Pennsylvania, who signs a Pennsylvania Forest Guide pledge 
card to be supplied by the Department of Forestry, Harrisburg, Pa. 

Each Pennsylvania Forest Guide will be supplied with a bronze 
button and a book "GUIDE TO FORESTRY" after he has signed 
the pledge card. Scoutmasters and other Scout officials signing 
the pledge card will be given white metal "Pioneer Forest Guide" 
buttons. 

Each Pennsylvania Forest Guide or Pioneer Guide who has been 
available for service for a whole year in the fight against FOREST 
FIRE, and responded to all calls for such service, can, upon the 
recommendation of his Scoutmaster, exchange his Pennsylvania 
Forest Guide button for a Forest Guide badge at the office of the 
District Forester. 

The Department of Forestry also offers 100 gold medals annually 
to Boy Scouts for special meritorious service in combating FOREST 
FIRE in Pennsylvania. It is hoped that all registered Scouts will 
take advantage of this offer, and help to protect the forests from 
FOREST FIRE— EVERY MAN'S ENEMY. 

Boys who do not belong to the Boy Scout organization can be- 
come AMERICAN FORESTRY GUIDES by applying to the 
American Forestry Guide Headquarters, 431 Elm Street, Reading, 
Pa. 

FOREST GUIDE OF PENNSYLVANIA 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: — This is to certify that the bearer hereof 
is a registered member of the Boy Scouts of America, and having signed the 
Forest Guide pledge, is authorized to wear the Forest Guide button. The 
citizens of Pennsylvania are hereby requested to extend all possible courtesies 
to him as a Forest Guide. 

R, Y, STTTART, Commissioner of Forestry. 



(Signature of Scoutmaster) (Authorized representative of Local Council) 

Date 



FOREST GUIDE PLEDGE 
Believing as a Boy Scout that every citizen should endeavor to see that 
our Forests, together with their "Wild Life and Plant Life, should be pro- 
tected and conserved for our common good, I do hereby pledge myself to do 
nothing willfully or carelessly to injure any Forest Tree, Wild Plant, Bird, 
or harmless Animal, to do all in my power to protect and conserve the same, 
to urge others to do likewise, to prevent and extinguish forest fires. 



Signature 

(Scout) 

Iroop No of Penna. 



AN APPRECIATION OF SCOUTING 



Scouting is worth while. It makes real boys and girls and then 
turns them into real men and women. A good Scout makes a good 
American. A good American makes a good citizen, and good Ameri- 
can citizens make America the first Nation in the world. 

Scouting is good fun, but it is a lot more than that. It is the best 
kind of preparation for whatever life is to bring in the days ahead. 
A good Scout is seldom or never caught unprepared, and a man or a 
woman who has grown up out of a boy or girl scout is always ready 
to meet the present and future with head up, eyes front, and should- 
ers back. 

There is a lot more in the United States than can be seen from a 
street car. It is the land, and the boys and men, girls and women 
who know the land, who make the strength of this and any other 
country. Not the least valuable thing about scouting is that it teaches 
the city boy and girl to know the country, and the country boy and 
girl to know the country better than he or she otherwise would. 

The forest is not only the mother of the fountain, but the mother 
of men as well. Our ancestors lived in the forest. We live with the 
help of the forest. Wood is still the most useful of all materials, and 
will continue to be for many years after you and I have passed to our 
reward. 

Boys and girls who know the out-of-doors render services of great 
value to their Nation and State by understanding the forest and tak- 
ing part in its protection. It is just as important for people to think 
rightly about preventing forest fires as it is for them to think rightly 
about preventing fires in a town, or any other similar calamity. When 
you help to make people respect and appreciate the forest you help 
in its protection. 

An understanding of the forest and of the conservation of all 
natural resources is growing rapidly among Scouts. In two years the 
number of badges awarded to boy scouts in forestry grew from 153 
to 513. I would like to see still more awarded in Pennsylvania. 

This booklet is prepared primarily for the Boy Scouts of America, 
Forest Guides, American Forestry Guides, Wood Craft League, 
Knights of St. George Cadets, Camp Fire Girls, Girl Guides, and 
other junior outdoor organizations in Pennsylvania. I hope that 
every boy and girl who gets this book will not only study its pages 
but take it into the forest, compare what is here printed with what 
they find out-of-doors, and so get to know the forest which is the 
home of scouting and woodcraft and a great necessity for the wel- 
fare of the human race. 

GIFFORD PINCHOT 



PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTY 

STATE FOREST COMMISSION 

R. Y. Stuart, Commissioner of Forestry. 

Edward Bailey. 

Henry W. Shoemaker. 

Mrs. John L. Lawrence. 

(Mary Flynn Lawrence.) 

Henry S. Drinker. 



Lewis E. Staley, Chief, Bureau of 'Operation. 

C<~orge H. Wirt, Chief, Bureau of Protection. 

John W. Keller, Chief, Bureau of Silviculture. 

Alfred E. Rupp, Chief, Bureau of Lands. 

Joseph S. Illick, Chief, Office of Research. 

W. Erdman Montgomery, Chief, Office of Maintenance. 

A. O. Vorse, Chief, Office of Information. 

E. A. Ziegler, Director, State Forest Academy. 



GUIDE TO FORESTRY 

Book One 
By JOSEPH S. ILLICK 



CONTENTS 



lutrodfic-cion* 

The original forest, 

The march of forest destruction, 
The present forest situation, . . 
fforest area of Pennsylvania, . . 

What a forest is ". 

What forestry is, 

What is wrong with onr forests, 

Haw forest fires start, 

What forest fires do 

Why prevent forest fires, 

Htrw to prevent forest fires 



Page Page 

5 How to fight forest fires, 16 

6 Other things to do 18 

7 Why plant forest trees, 19 

8 Why become acquainted with trees. .... 21 

9 How to become acquainted with trees, ... 29 
11 Some representative Pennsylvania forest 

. 13 trees 28 

. 13 Where to study trees, 56 

, 14 Where the State Forests are located, .... 5fi 

15 Ton are welcome on the State Foresta, ... 60 

15 Facts about Pennsylvania State fwwrts, 57 
18 



The mere mention of the name Robin Hood among a group of 
boys kindles a desire to go to the woods. There is only one way to 
satisfy this desire which is inborn in almost every American boy, and 
that is for him to get ready and go out along the beaten and un- 
beaten paths of the forests, and there fill up on the many g-ood things 
which our forests hold in store for us. 

Where is the boy who has studied American History and not been 
inspired by the adventures and heroic deeds of Daniel Boone, An- 
drew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. It is the 
lives of these men that appeal to every boy. Becoming woods- 
wise, learning by doing, being brave, chivalrous, resourceful and 
leading a simple, clean, and useful life are worthy qualities which 
should be developed in all the boys of our great Commonwealth. 

There is no better place than in the forests for boys and girls 
to frolic and receive their instruction. Most of their doings relate 
to the forest, and the whole scheme of their instruction has its set- 
ting in the woods. The forest environment offers the best place to 
seek adventure, to become hard and handy, to think quietly, to iden- 
tify rocks, to study trees, and learn the need for forestry. 



The original forests, which formed the background for the un- 
usual deeds of the early pioneers, are now practically all gone in 
Pennsylvania. Only a few small and widely scattered patches re- 
main, and these are beginning to show man-made marks of travel 
and work. A short description of the original forest follows. It 
is written with the hope that it will help the boys and girls of to- 
day realize more fully the real thrill of pioneer life, and picture tht 
trials and toils of Daniel Boone and other early explorers. 

THE ORIGINAL FOREST 

The early American pioneers were confronted on all sides with 
forests. There seemed to be no end to the woods in those days. 
They extended practically unbroken from the Atlantic Ocean to the 
prairies beyond the Mississippi River. They also covered most of 
the Rocky Mountains and occupied a wide strip on the Pacific 
Coast. In the aggregate the original forests covered 822,000,000 
acres, that is. an area about 30 times the size of the State of Penn- 
sylvania. 

The vast extent of the original forests was only one of then 
characteristics. They contained "a large variety of trees which at 
tained a great age, reached a large size, and produced enormo-a* 
quantities of the choicest lumber ever found on the face of the earth. 
Nowhere was an equal area ever found which contained such vast 
quantities of forest products suitable for the needs of man. 

Nature made Pennsylvania a great and prosperous State. No 
phase of her progress is more striking than that which relates to her 
forests. The entire State with the exception of a few natural mead- 
ows and a small number of rough mountain tops was covered with 
a dense forest growth. No better and more valuable stands of 
timber could be found in any of the eastern states. 

The word Pennsylvania means Penn's woods. The name was de- 
rived from the first proprietor of the province and the dense and 
heavy forests which practically covered all her soil. It required 
many centuries of Nature's best efforts to produce these matchless 
and supposedly endless miles of primeval forest, which the first 
settlers found upon all the hills and in every valley of our great 
Commonwealth. 

The primeval forests, untouched by the axe or saw of man, were 
a wonderful environment for the pioneer boy. His was not an easy 
environment, but one full of rich and original experiences. It made 
him hard, handy and healthy. It brought out the best that was in 
him. But, we of to-day must not forget that much was required of 
him. His tasks were hard. He had big jobs to do, the finiahiag- of 




/L*B9liBSaBES^Sii*fe-3SiBS^^9SR«SWs 



THIS IS THE FOREST PRIMEVAL. 

Pennsylvania originally had more than 28,000,000 acres of-ori 
jinal forest, of which less than 25,000 acres now remain. 




■■■■jil^MBai 




A FOREST TRAGEDY. 

The forests of big trees have been cut, the land is idle, and the inhabitant! of thi» 
once prosperous lumbering town are nearly all gone. In its prime the town of Cross 
Pork, Potter County, had over two thousand inhabitants : now less than twenty ppoplp 
live there. 




Photo ly J. S. Illicit. 

THE MARCH OF FOREST DESTRUCTION. 

The lumberman Mis trees, then forest fires rage, and thereafter only acres a4 
'insolation remain. 



LO 

which required many days of hard work in some remote clearing 
in the woods where human companions were unknown and travelers 
rarely ventured. To be a pioneer boy means much more than being 
able to help fell trees, build log cabins, and work in the small family 
clearings. 

The pioneer boy was assigned to outpost positions on the danger 
line about the forest border. He helped to provide for his family, 
and protect his friends from numerous and treacherous enemies. 
His duties required that he become acquainted with the fundamen- 
tals of woodcraft. He learned to know the animals of the forest, and 
studied the ways of the wild folks. He became acquainted with the 
trees and other plants of the forest. He knew the trees which pro- 
duced valuable wood, and could recognize the medicinal herbs. The 
pioneer boy was indeed rich, not in money but in knowledge and 
ability. He knew his environment and could do things. He was 
a keen observer, fearless explorer, and a cheerful doer of many good 
and useful deeds. » 

Every boy of to-day can find some characteristics or virtues of 
the pioneer boy of the early days which are worth striving for. 
There is only one way to get these virtues, and that is the best way. 
Go out in the glorious and boundless out-of-doors, do the things the 
pioneer boy did, and learn your lessons as he learned his. 

THE MARCH OF FOREST DESTRUCTION 

Pennsylvania has a land area of 28,692,480 acres. Almost every 
acre was covered originally with an excellent forest growth. But a 
great change has taken place since the days when the earfy settlers 
began building their cabins and clearing their fields. To-day only 
a few small patches of the original forest remain. Where once 
stood heavy stands of the choicest white pine, hemlock, cherry, 
oak and other important timber trees, there exist now only endless 
stretches of barren mountain land. The questions which naturally 
follow are : What brought about this rapid change ? Who were the 
chief agents of forest destruction? 

There were a number of agents of destruction, but man played 
the leading role. He felled the monarchs of the forest, operated 
sawmills, and started forest fires. Even before Penn arrived in 
1682, the Dutch and Swedes had sawmills on the "South River'' as 
the Delaware was then known. But they were few in number and 
did not cut much timber. The date when the first sawmills began 
operating in some of the counties of the State is given in the follow- 
ing table : 



11 

COUNTY YEAR 

Philadelphia 1662 

Franklin 1732 

Berks 1735 

Lycoming 1773 

Allegheny 1776 

Huntingdon . 1786 

Wyoming 1 793 

Warren „ 1800 

Clarion 1805 

Elk 1825 

It was not until 1838 that the first sawmill was erected in Wil- 
liamsport. This was the actual beginning of the great lumber in- 
dustry of Pennsylvania, which was at its best between 1870 and 
1890. In 1850 the lumber output of Pennsylvania was surpassed by 
only one state— New York— and in 1860 the Keystone State stood at 
the very top. She maintained a rank of first or second until 1890. 
when she took third place. Fourth place was given her in 1900, and 
by 1918 she had dropped down to the twentieth place, which posi- 
tion she is still holding. 

Pennsylvania's fall as a timber producing state was rapid. It could 
not have been otherwise, for her forests were gone. Just thirteen 
years ago as much wood was cut in Pennsylvania as her citizens 
and industries used. Now the annual cut of wood is only one-third 
as much as we consume, and what is far more significant, our forests 
are growing only about one-tenth as much lumber as we use. 

The great and glorious lumber industry flourished for a short 
while in Pennsylvania. It brought much business to the State, but 
left a big blot on its otherwise wonderful and prosperous record 
—THE PENNSYLVANIA DESERT. There are in our State to-day 
six million acres of mountain land, which can produce only one crop, 
and that is a forest crop. This area is too rough and rocky for the 
plow; but if handled properly will provide a continuous flow of 
valuable and necessary forest products. 

We do not want to keep this unproductive desert. To do so 
would be entirely wrong and selfish, and show poor foresight. It 
becomes us to show our worth and good sense by treating these six 
million acres in such a way that a full crop of necessary forest pro- 
ducts will flow from them continuously. 

THE PRESENT FOREST SITUATION 

We do not have enough wood to satisfy fully the present de- 
mands. It is becoming scarcer each year and the prices are rising 
rapidly. Wood will forever be a human need. It is used in the in- 



12 

dustries, the home, and the fields. It is an element of human 
necessity from the cradle to the coffin. Next to food and clothing 
it is the most indispensable product of nature. We are now in the 
early stages of a timber shortage, which we must not allow to grow 
worse, for without wood there can be no agriculture, no manufac- 
ture, no commerce. 

Most of the work of reclaiming .Pennsylvania's Desert will fall 
to young people. They are the ones who look forward. and want to 
set things aright. It is they who are building for the future, and 
concerned with the problems which require a long time to complete. 

The boys and girls of Pennsylvania can render a great and lasting 
service by helping in the restoration of a forest growth upon Penn- 
sylvania's Desert. They can at least do a part of this fine piece of 
work. In fact, they have started upon the job already, are taking 
it seriously, and making commendable progress. Boys are helping 
to extinguish forest fires in every part of the State. In some cases 
they put out fires without any help. They have also reported many 
fires to forest officers. A troop of Boy Scouts fought a fire strenu- 
ously for one day and night and conquered it completely. It will 
ever be to their credit for having worked so hard and accomplished 
so much. The Scouts have also planted many trees, cleaned up the 
forest of weeds and debris, improved springs, built trails, and cared 
for birds and other wild animals. They have done much good, 
which is being appreciated and will live long after them. 

But in order that every boy and girl may do his and her part well, 
and probably better than would otherwise have been possible, this 
little booklet has been prepared. It does not aim to tell all about 
the forests or point out all good forestry practices, but its purpose 
is rather to impress our young folks with a few of the most impor- 
tant things which they should know, and do in order that they may 
help protect and improve our forests. 



FOREST AREA OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Pennsylvania was originally one of the best, if not the very best, 
wooded state in the eastern half of our country. The total land area 
of Pennsylvania is usually given a*s 28,692,480 acres. Practically 
the entire state, with the exception of a few natural meadows and 
several rough mountain tops, was originally covered with trees. 

The opening of agricultural lands, lumbering operations, forest 
fires, and other agents of forest destruction, have reduced this 
acreage considerably. The following table gives the present forest 
area of Pennsylvania by counties : 



13 



BOUNTY 

Adams, . . . 
Allegheny. . 
Armstrong. 
Beaver, . . . 
Bedford, 
Berks, .... 

Blair 

Bradford. . 
Bucks, .... 

Butler, 

Cambria, . . 
Cameron, . . 
Carbon, . . . 
Centre, . . . 
Chester, . . . 
Clarion, . . . 
Clearfield, . 
Clinton, . . . 
Columbia, . 
Crawford, . 
Cumberland. 
Dauphin, . . 
Delaware, . 

Elk, 

Erie, 

Payette, . . . 
Forest, .... 
Franklin, . . 
Fulton, .... 
Greene, . . . 
Huntingdon. 
Indiana, . . . 
Jefferson, 
Juniata, . . . 



TOTAL 

FOREST AREA 

(ACRES) 



99,262 
109,200 
127,913 

77,362 
276.000 
115.096 
136,704 
304,416 

63,304 
105.565 
256,972 
197,500 
124,800 
496,013 

88.676 
153,000 
500.000 
453,608 
137.952 
210,000 

97,423 

97,603 

15.000 
417.000 

80.000 
335,000 
233.648 
153.303 
140,000 

89,420 
355.000 
176 000 
221,000 
108.500 



COUNTY 

Lackawanna. . . 

Lancaster, 

Lawrence, 

Lebanon, 

Lehigh, 

Luzerne, 

Lycoming, 

McKean, 

Mercer, 

Mifflin, 

Monroe, 

Montgomery, 

Montour, 

Northampton, . . 
Northumberlnnd. 

Perry, 

Philadelphia. . . 

Pike 

Potter 

Schuylkill 

Snyder, 

Somerset 

Sullivan, 

Susquehanna. . . 

Tioga, 

Union, 

Venango, 

Warren, 

Washington. . . . 

Wayne, 

Westmorehmil. . 

Wyoming 

York, 



TOTAL 
FOREST AREA 
(ACRES) 



110 

99 

48. 

41 

47: 

380. 

489 

565 

106 

160; 

210; 

47 

33 

39, 

92 

184 

4. 

261 

509 

325 

67 

399 

210 

180 

375 

98 

176 

395 

76 

283 

215 

139 

119 



,020 
,177 
,951 
,650 
,500 
,827 
,855 
,000 
,650 
,251 
,000 
,200 
,280 
700 
,000 
,039 
,500 
,118 
,921 
600 
000 
960 
,000 
000 
440 
440 
,000 
486 
861 
707 
,450 
744 
,630 



Total Forest Area 



13,046.557 



A study of the above table shows that seven adjoining counties, 
located in the north-central part of the State, comprise more than 
one-fourth of the total forest area of the State. These counties 
are McKean, Potter, Clearfield, Centre, Lycoming, Clinton, and Elk. 
It is quite significant that while the seven counties comprise more 
than one-fourth of the total forest area, they make up less than one- 
twenty-third of the State's total population. The county having 
the largest forest area is McKean. It has a total land area of 631,680 
acres of which 565,000 acres, or 89.4%, is forested. 

There are six counties in the State of Pennsylvania that have more 
than 75% of their total land area in forests. They are McKean, 
Forest. Elk, Clinton, Cameron, and Pike. It is significant that 
twenty-six of the sixty-seven counties of Pennsylvania have more 
than 50% of their total land area in forests, and that 45.5% of the 
total land area of the State is forest land. 

There are in Pennsylvania 13,046,557 acres of forest land and 
8,720,017 inhabitants. This means that there are one and one-half 
acres of forest land for each inhabitant of the Keystone State. A 
study of the forest area and population of each county shows a wide 
variation. There are in the State twenty counties that have less 



14 

than one acre of forest land for each inhabitant; twenty-four coun- 
ties that have from one to ten acres of forest land to each inhabitant ; 
ten counties with from ten to fifteen acres of forest land to each in- 
habitant; and only three counties that have more than twenty-five 
acres of forest land for each inhabitant. 

The forest area per capita ranges from .0025 acres in Philadelphia 
County to 38.3 acres in Pike County. The counties having the 
largest forest acreage per capita are: 



FOREST AREA 
PER CAPITA 
COUNTY (Acres) 



Pike, 38.3 

Cameron, 31.4 

Forest, 31.0 

Potter, 24.2 

Sullivan, 22.1 

Some of the counties having the smallest forest area per Capita are: 

FOREST AREA 
PER CAPITA 
COUNTY (Acres) 

Philadelphia, .0025 

Delaware, .09 

Montgomery, .2 

Lehigh, .3 

Northampton, .3 

Washington, .4 

Lackawanna, .4 

Erie, .5 

The forest land of Pennsylvania may be placed in the following 
classes : 

AREA (Acres) 

State forest land, 1,126,237 

Farm woodlots, 4,043,902 

Outside of State Forests and farm 

woodlots, 7,876,418 

Total, 13,046,557 



WHAT A FOREST IS 

A forest is a complex community of living things. It is more than 
a mere collection of trees, for associated with the trees are many 






other plants and animals, all of which live in close relationship with 
one another. 

There is a right and a wrong way for boys and girls to find out 
what a forest really is. Many hours ma}' be spent in schoolrooms, 
libraries, and parlors studing about the forest and its inhabitants. 
Such a method has some good points, bin there is a better way. The 
rig'ht way to become acquainted with the inhabitants of forests con- 
sists in getting ready, going out, hiking right info them and there 
beginning a first-hand acquaintance with the many and interesting 
members of which it is made up. 

Do not plan to become acquainted witn all the forest inhabitants 
on the first trip into the woods for there are too many of them, 
just as it is impossible to become acquainted with all the inhabi- 
tants of a city in a single day, so it is beyond the realm of the pos- 
sible to learn to know all of the members of the forest on a single 
hike. 

A good plan for the first hike to the forest is to list or make a 
census of all the different groups "or classes of plants and animals 
which you may observe, that is, make no special attempt to name 
the individuals. This may be done by making a table of two 
columns, the one with the heading Plants and the other Animals, 
and listing under each all the living- things observed. Only two 
columns are required, for all living things are either plants or 
animals. The table may be made up in the following manner: 



PLANTS 




1. 


Trees 




2. 


Shrubs 




3. 


Ferns 




4. 


Mosses, 


etc 


5. 






6. 






7. 






8. 






9. 
0. 







ANIMALS 



9. 
10. 



Deer 

Squirrels 
Rabbits 
Birds, etc 



Such an exercise will show that while the trees are the most con- 
spicuous and the most important members of the forest, they are 
by no means its only inhabitants. Instead, the forest is a complex 
community of many living things, whose activities are so closely 
inter-related that the absence of any group may make itself felt on 
all the remaining members. 




I'hoto by Charles I. Buvinger. 

IT IS EVENING. ALL IS WELL WITH THE SCOUTS 
AND EVERYBODY IS HAPPY. 




I'hoto by Charles I. Buvinger. 

A CRUDE BUT COMFORTABLE LEAN-TO SHELTER 




Photo oy Charlea I. BuvWger. 

A LESSON IN NATURE STUDY. BE SURE TO SEE 
WHAT YOTT LOOK AT. 





Photo by Qharle$ 1. Buvinger 

A TRIO OF TREE LOVERS. 

They have named and identified all 
the different trees about their camp 



Photo ov Oharlet 7. Buvinger. 

IT IS TRUE. ONE TREE MAY 
MAKE A MILLION MATCHES. BUT 
ONE MATCH MAY BURN A MIL- 
LION TREES. 



18 

WHAT FORESTRY IS 

Forestry is the art of handling" forest land in such a way that it 
will be of the greatest service to man. It is no field for selfish effort 
and has no place for a greedy goal. Good forestry considers the 
wants of future generations as well as our present needs. It recom- 
mends the wise use of all forest products now on hand, and insists 
that a growth of valuable forest trees be maintained continuously on 
every acre of forest land. Idle acres, barren slopes, areas of desola- 
tion, and unproductive land are objects to be overcome and improv- 
ed. 

WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR FORESTS 

That our forests are in urgent need of improvement is no longer 
a question. Many of them are unattractive; fire-scarred snags, ex- 
posed boulders, and bare soil being among their most striking 
characteristics. Most of them are unsanitary, for they are filled with 
debris, dirt, half rotten trunks, stumps, and insect infested stuff. All 
of our forests are producing fewer products than they are capable of 
turning out. Furthermore, there appears to be no order in them, 
for they have developed without any attention or care. 

A general study of prevailing forest conditions shows that the 
forests of to-day fall short of being satisfactory in at least four im- 
portant ways : 

1. They do not produce enough good wood. 

2. They are not attractive in appearance. 

3. They are positively unclean. 

4. There is no order in them. 

The boys and girls cannot do all the things or carry on all the op- 
erations which are necessary to bring about the desired improve- 
ments, but there are a number of lines of work which they can and 
should do; and it is equally important to know that there are other 
things that should not be done. Here are some suggestions : 

1. Do not start a forest fire. 

2. Tell all your companions about the damage which 

forest fires do. 

3. Report all forest fires to the nearest forest officer. 

4. Learn how to fight forest fires, and take a hand in 

putting them out. 

5. Plant forest trees in vacant corners, wasteplaces, 

abandoned fields, on barren mountain slopes and 
other unoccupied forest land. 

6. Destroy insects which injure and kill forest trees. 

7. Destroy rots, blights, and other fungous foes of the 

forest. 

8. Help clean up the forest by using the dead wood 

found lying on the forest floor. 

9. Cut out only undesirable trees and guard the more 

valuable ones. 



19 
HOW FOREST FIRES START 

Someone may have told you that lightning causes many forest 
fires or that spontaneous combustion may furnish the spark which 
starts the fires on their mission of destruction. In order that we 
may get at the very bottom of this important subject, and not be 
misinformed, let us take advantage of the results of a careful study 
which has been made of the causes of forest fires in Pennsylvania. 
They may be summarized as follows: 

1. Few, if any, forest fires are the result of spontaneous 

combustion. 

2. Lightning does not cause more than 10 or 12 forest fires 

each year in Pennsylvania, that is, about four-fifths of 
one per cent, of the total number. 

3. Someone's carelessness or neglect causes 99 per cent, of 

the forest fires which occur each year in Pennsylvania- 
No matter what the immediate or apparent cause 
happens to be the real original cause can in almost all 
cases be traced back to the carelessness or neglect of 
some person or group of persons. Carelessly con- 
structed or neglected camp fires have started many 
forest fires. The careless throwing away of a burning 
match, cigarette, or tobacco among dry leaves has been 
the cause of some of our worst fires. Sparks from en- 
gines start many forest fires, but the real cause is 
the fact that the smoke stacks were not properly equip- 
ped with a satisfactory spark arrester, or a satisfactor- 
ily cleared safety strip was not kept on both sides of 
the road bed. We all believe in clearing up unsightly 
and unsanitary places, but too often brush burners 
choose a windy day or forget to take proper precau- 
tion so that the fires which they start cannot get away 
from them. In many instances those in charge of a 
fire go away for a while, only to return and find that 
the fire has escaped and is traveling rapidly over an 
adjoining woodlot or ascending a steep and heavily 
timbered mountain slope. 

4. Be sure the camp fire is out before leaving it. Take no 

chances, for you can easily tramp it out, smother it 
with ground, or soak it with water. 

5. Be very careful in cleaning up a camp site. Burn the un- 

desirable material when there is little danger of the 
fire getting beyond control. 

6. Be as careful with fire in the forest as in your home, for 

it is an evil doer if it gets beyond control. Careful 
boys and girls take no chances with fire in or near the 
woods, for its actions are treacherous and its destruc- 
tive power great, if it gets beyond control. 




Phmo b$ /. S. ZiHsb. 

FOREST FIRE IS EVERY MAN'S ENEMY. 
Be sure to look over a forest fire before yeu tackle it, but do not lose much time. 
Watching and waiting will not do the work. Locate the "header" and fight it first 
The "header" is the part of the fire that travels most rapidly. The top of a ridge, 
or just beyond the top and right in front of the "header" of a fire, is the right place 
to get busy. 




Photo by 1. 8. llliok. 

FOREST FIRES MAY DESTROY HOMES. 
There is no end to the damage that forest fires d». In 1918 nearly 400 persons lost 
their lives in a single forest fire in Minnesota, about 2.000 were more or less serjoiipiv 
burned, and 13.000 rendered homeless. 3 







A MODERN STEEL FOREST FIRE TOWER. IT IS 60 FEET HIGH AM > 
FROM ITS TOP MAY BE VIEWED 500.000 ACRES OF FOREST LAND. 



22 
WHAT FOREST FIRES DO. 

The first thing that every boy and girl should know about 
forest fires is the fact that they do absolutely no good. They bring 
no benefits to mankind, for damage and loss are the results of their 
work. It would require many pages to discuss fully the loss caused 
by forest fires. The following" outline will show some of the damage 
which they do : 

1. Forest fires destroy the beauty and value of a 

region. 

2. They destroy the animal and plant life of the 

forests. 

3. They destroy the seeds and seedlings which would 

develop into stately stands of timber. 

4. They kill enormous quantities of growing timber. 
5- They consume a large amount of felled timber and 

other forest products stored in forests. 

6. They consume the leaf litter and humus on the 

forest floor. 

7. They impoverish the soil to such an extent that its 

capacity to produce timber is almost negligible. 
Briefly, they prevent the production of enormous 
quantities of needed forest products. : 

8. They have already made a big desert in Pennsyl- 

vania. It covers a large part of the mountains 
of our State. 

9. They open the way for the destructive work of in- 

sects, fungi, erosion, floods and drought. 

10. They sometimes kill live stock, and frequently de- 

stroy buildings, crops and fences. 

11. They occasionally destroy houses. 

12. They even may cause the loss of human lives. 

There appears to be no end to the damage which forest fires do. 
We cannot let them go on. It is our duty to step in right now and 
tight them to a finish. 

WHY PREVENT FOREST FIRES. 

There are many reasons why forest fires should be prevented. It 
would make a list as long as an arm if an attempt were made to 
name them all, but everyone cannot help but become enthusiastic 
about preventing forest fires after knowing that : 

1. Forest fires are unnecessary. There exists no need 

for them and they should be stopped. 

2. Forest fires benefit no one, except a few selfish 

people who still have the false notion that forest 
fires are necessary to insure a crop of Huckle- 
berries. 



23 

3. The prevention of forest fires is good business, for 

they are the curse of our forests. They do only 
evil. No good comes from them. We endure 
hardship and suffer great loss because of them. 

4. They are responsible for the greatest leak which 

exists at the present time in our otherwise pros- 
perous Commonwealth. 

5. The prevention of forest fires is wise forethought, 

for they are not only destroying annually an 
enormous quantity of wood, but also prevent an 
inestimable amount of wood from growing. It 
is our duty to stop them now, because of the 
damage they do, and the hardships which will 
bear down upon future generations through a 
shortage of forest products. 

HOW TO PREVENT FOREST FIRES. 

It seems to follow from the study of the causes of forest fires that 
the best way to prevent them is to have every inhabitant and every 
visitor of our Commonwealth be careful and thoughtful about the 
use of fire in all forms and at all times. The following suggestions 
should be helpful in out-of-door activities: 

1. Be sure you do not throw away a lighted match or 

any other burning material while walking 
through, resting, or camping within the woods- 

2. Clear the ground of all inflammable material before 

building a camp fire. If possible, dig a small pit 
in a clear area, and surround it at least on three 
sides with a wall of stones. This makes an ideal 
and safe fire place. 

3. Never build a big fire. It is neither necessary nor 

safe. 

4. Of course, most boys do not smoke, but if you are 

allowed to smoke or choose to "steal a smoke," 
be very Careful in disposing of the burning to- 
bacco, cigar, or cigarette. Many a forest fire 
was started by a carelessly disposed of cigar or 
cigarette, and the thoughtless throwing away of 
burning tobacco. 

HOW TO FIGHT FOREST FIRES. 

Someone has said that the best way to fight forest fires is to pre- 
vent them from starting. That is good advice and a fine idea, 
but some fires will start and must be fought. The putting out of a 
forest fire is a real fight. It is one of the severest contests a group 
of young men can engage in. Forest fires are a difficult enemy to 
overcome, for their advances are usu^ly fierce and uncertain. 



24 

In order to overcome them quickly the fighters must take heart, 
and then "dig in" and use their heads, hands and feet with all their 
might. By so doing they will be able to conquer the most formid- 
able foe of the forest. 

The best results will be obtained if the fighting force is well 
equipped, properly organized, and so trained that every member 
understands the most important rules of the business. A schedule 
follows which points out some of the most imporant things which 
should be done in case of forest fires. 

1. Always be on the watch for forest fires, especially during 

the spring and fall when they are apt to occur and in 
regions where they happen frequently. 

2. The first thing to do, if you are at or near a fire when it 

starts, and it is not too large, is to try to put it out. 

3. The first thing to do, if you are at a distance from the 

fire, or if it is large in size and burning rapidly, is to 
notify the nearest forest officer, who may be a Forest- 
er, Forest Ranger, Forest Fire Warden or Game War- 
den. 

4. The second thing to do is to get together a crew of fire 

fighters. 

5. See to it that the fighters are properly equipped. 

6. Get the fighters to the fire as soon as possible. The secret 

of success in fighting forest fires is to knock, kick or 
otherwise get them out in the first round, for they be- 
come larger and stronger the longer you allow them to 
go ahead. 

7. As you approach a fire look it over and proceed to take 

the best position to attack it. Always tackle "the 
header" first, that is the part of the fire which is travel- 
ing fastest. 

8. Upon reaching the fire, offer your service to the forest 

officer in charge. If no forest officer is present, or- 
ganize your men and tackle the fire without delay. 
Lose as little time as possible in discussing the situa- 
tion. 

9. A slow fire may be stopped by beating it out, but in cases 

where fires are progressing very rapidly, it is best to 
clear a line about two feet wide of all inflammable 
material some distance ahead of the fire. If the fire is 
not advancing too fast it will stop when it reaches this 
cleared line, but if a strong wind is blowing it is very 
apt to jump over the cleared line and proceed onward 
doing destructive work. In the case of rapidly advanc- 
ing fires it is recommendable to start a "Back Fire" on 
the side of the cleared line towards the original fire, 
and when they meet, both will die out for want of in- 
flammable material. A "Back Fire" improperly placed 
or poorly timed may do more damage than good. 
Therefore, no "Back Fire" should be started by boys 



26 

unless a forest officer, or another person who has had 
experience in fighting forest fires, is at hand to direct 
the fight. 

10. One of the most responsible positions on a fire line is that 
of the "guards" who control the back fire and see to it 
that the fire does not jump over the fire line. 

i 1 • Do not expect every established fire line to hold, for you 
will sometimes be compelled to fall back, reorganize the 
fighters and begin to battle from a new and more ad- 
vantageous position. 

12. Do not give up until you have won the figfit. Remember 
that the fight is not really won until the last spark is 
out. Therefore, do not leave a fire immediately after 
the flames have been subdued, but patrol the lines and 
see to it that it does not break out anew and go on 
another spree of destruction. 

OTHER THINGS TO DO. 

The stopping of forest fires will do much to rebuild our devastated 
forests, but there are other things which must also be done in order 
to place them in a satisfactory condition. These important tasks 
should go hand in hand with or follow right after protection. Some 
of these essential things are : 

1. Securing a new growth of valuable trees as quickly as 

possible on every acre of devastated land within the 
State. We cannot afford to leave so many acres of 
mountain land remain idle. It does not pay to delay. 
Right now is the time to see to it that all unproductive 
areas of forest land are so stocked with trees that they 
will begin to produce a valuable forest crop. 

2. Another thing to do is to give preference to the important 

forest trees and eliminate as rapidly as possible the 
undesirable kinds. There are over 100 different kind 
of trees and about 200 different kind of shrubs native 
to Pennsylvania. Nature does not show any preference 
for the important timber trees in the early stage of re- 
forestation. As a rule, many different kind of trees 
come up after forest fires and lumbering operations, 
and in the struggle for an existence the inferior ones 
often win out. If the job of restocking our forest land 
is left to nature entirely, a great deal of ground will be 
occupied by worthless trees. It is our business, there- 
fore, to learn to know the best trees, and then help 
them overcome inferior ones such as scrub oak, fire 
cherry, trembling aspen, sumachs and other similar 
weed trees. While in camp boys and girls should show 
their appreciation of the land owner by helping him im- 
prove the composition of his forest by cutting out the 
inferior trees and thus help those of better quality. 

3. A third thing which is essential to rebuilding our forests 

properly is the removal from the forests of all treee of 




Oouvte»v of the V. B. Forett Service. 

HE SURE THAT THE CAMP FIRE IS OUT BEFORE YOU 
LEAVE. 




A COMFORTABLE CAMP ON THE MOSHANNON STATE 
FOREST IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

There are 563 permanent camp sites under lease on the State 
Forest of Pennsylvania, and during 1921 at least 80,000 people 
used the State Forests for camping and recreation purposes. 




A PLANTATION OF YOUNG WHITE PINE TREES. 
Make your idle land pay. Plant forest trees on waste places. 




Phihu (IV •*. 0. /*««» 

AN ATTRACTIVE AND THRIFTY STAND OF WHITE 
PINE PLANTED 48 YEARS AGO. 

Note the branch scars that encircle the trunks. The distanc* 
between the rings is the height growth of one year. 



poor quality, and undesirable form, as well as all dead, 
dying and damaged specimens. In almost every forest 
there are wolf trees, that is, trees which are unat- 
tractive, have a wide-spreading crown, and a twisted 
and hollow trunk. Such trees grow very little in size 
and are continuously decreasing in value. They should 
be removed from the forest for they possess no future 
promise, and are suppressing and even killing many 
young and thrifty trees beneath them. Their days of 
usefulness and service are past, and the way should 
be opened up for a younger generation of trees by re- 
moving their suppressors. 

Boys and girls should make it a rule to use for camp- 
ing and other essential purposes only such material 
whose removal will improve the forests, and thus assist 
in rebuilding them and making them even more pro- 
ductive and more valuable than the original forests. 
4. Another important thing to do is to stock completely all 
forest land so that it will begin producing forest prod- 
ucts of value. Our forests are now full of gaps and 
openings in which nothing of value is now being pro- 
duced. Many of these areas are small in size, while 
some of them cover large areas. The loss from a single 
blank area may not be great, but when all of them are 
added together the loss is enormous. 

Let us give nature a chance to establish forests of baby trees on 
all these areas, but if she does not succeed, the thing to do is to go 
out upon these barren areas and plant upon them selected trees, 
which are well-known, sure to grow, and will produce a valuable 
crop of timber. We must not compete with nature or try to outdo 
her in places where she is doing good work, but our aim should be 
to fill in all fail places. Boys and girls can be of great service in 
this work for there is a big tree planting job before all of us. It will 
be a creditable piece of work for the young and brave men of our 
State to go out among the hills and start to re-clothe them with the 
best trees which are now available. 

WHY PLANT FOREST TREES. 

- Nature working through many centuries produced the original 
forest. It took a long time for her to accomplish this wonderful 
task. In some localities nature will again produce fine forests, 
while in other places she is making progress very slowly. We can- 
not afford to wait. We must put our idle mountain land to work at 
once for we need all the forest products which all the available areas 
are capable of producing. 

Wherever nature is not restoring a forest growth, we may go in 
and help her by planting seedlings of valuable forest trees. The 
boys and grirls of Pennsylvania have already planted many trees, and 
it is fair to assume that as they learn more about this delightful 



29 

pastime and helpful practice they will plant an increasing number 
each year. You may not know about it, but it is a fact that almost 
50 million small forest trees have been raised already in the nurseries 
operated by the Pennsylvania Department of Forestry and all of 
them have been planted on forest land within the Keystone State. 
More than 34 million of these trees have been planted on the State 
forests, the remainder having been set out by private owners of 
woodland. How rapidly the practice of forest tree planting is grow- 
ing may be learned from the following table: 

Number of Trees 
Supplied to 
YEAR Private Planters 

1910 66,374 

1911 25,360 

1912 66,854 

1913 47,770 

1914 108,685 

1915 115,577 

1916 1,471,875 

1917 1,812,997 

1918 2, 186,899 

1 919 3,139,531 

1 920 2,543,374 

1921 3,041,710 

Total 14.627.006 

Every Pennsylvania boy and girl should be a tree planter. It is 
a helpful and wholesome kind of work. In order that every boy and 
girl may know some of the good points of tree planting, a list of the 
benefits that may be derived therefrom follows: 

1. Planted trees will help supply the constantly grow 

ing demand for wood. They are a credit to us 
who set them out, and will be a blessing to future 
generations. Cheap wood is gone forever in 
Pennsylvania. 

2. Planted trees afford excellent protection to our 

water supplies and prevent erosion on steep 
slopes. 

3. Planted trees beautify and protect homes and make 

our landscape cheerful. 

4. Planted trees utilize the energies of nature which 

might otherwise be wasted. 

5. Planted trees beautify and improve highways, 

waterways, and byways. 

6. Tree planting will make worthless land productive 

and yield useful forest crops. 



3« 

7. Tree planting will help fill up the storehouse of 

needed wealth. 

8. The planted forests of France helped win the war. 
There is a great need for forest tree planting. It is not hard to 

find places upon which trees should be planted. Bare hillsides and 
poorly stocked mountain land is common, idle corners are present 
everywhere, and eroding slopes and gullies are doing enormous dam- 
age in every community. 

Boys and girls should remember that they do not stand alone 
when they desire to plant trees, for the Pennsylvania Department of 
Forestry will co-operate with them. It will supply the trees for 
planting if at least 100 are set out. The only cost attached to the 
trees is the packing and shipping charges, which should not exceed 
about 75 cents per thousand. A troop of Boy Scouts in April, 1920. 
planted one thousand trees upon a hillside near Sellersville, Pa., in 
about two hours. They enjoyed the work so much that they sent in 
a "hurry up" order for 500 more, which they also planted and now 
they are planning to take good care of them and watch them grow in 
size, value, and beauty. 

He that planteth a tree is a servant of God, 
He provideth a kindness for many generations, 
And faces that he hath not seen shall bless him. 

HENRY VAN DYKE 

WHY BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH TREES. 

Every boy and girl will sooner or later ask themselves the ques- 
tion, why should I put forth any effort to become acquainted with 
trees for they are such commonplace things? At first they may not 
be able to satisfy themselves that the study of trees is important, but 
as they revolve the question in their minds they will begin to see 
what a wide and practical application to every day life this subject 
has, and that trees ever since the creation have been among man's 
best friends and most useful helpers, and as time goes on and wood 
becomes scarcer they will play an even more important role in satis- 
fying his needs. 

Suppose we pause just long enough to think about a few of the 
ways in which trees have been our friends and helpers. We cannot 
begin to take an itemized census of all the different benefits derived 
from them for we would soon have a list as long as our arms and 
only half finished, but in order that we may not overlook entirely 
some of their good points a list of the most important of them fol- 
lows: 

1. Trees decorate the landscape. A treeless place is 

indeed cheerless. 

2. Trees supply us with shade and shelter, and protect 

our houses and other buildings against storms. 



31 

3. Trees beautify our homes, highways, and byways. 

4. Trees give shelter to and serve as a refuge for birds 

and other wild animals. 

5. Trees supply shade and shelter to domestic animals 

when in the open. 

6. Trees help make, fix, and improve the soil. 

7. Trees protect steep mountain slopes against erosion, 

and bind the soil along the banks of streams. 

8. Trees increase the run-off of water during periods 

of drought. 
9- Trees help purify the atmosphere. 

10. Trees decrease the run-off of water during periods 

of flood. 

11. Trees help maintain and improve the health and 

efficiency of our citizens. 

12. Trees help raise the moral standard and social worth 

of our boys and girls. 

13. Trees furnish the raw material for many of our most 

important industries. 

14. Trees supply us with some of our most necessary 

products of life. They supply us with the wood 
with which to build, furnish and warm our homes. 
They are the main source of the raw material 
from which the paper upon which we write is 
made. 

15. Every Pennsylvania boy and girl should become 

acquainted with our native trees so that they can 
recognize the difference between the important 
timber trees and the inferior (weed) species. 

HOW TO BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH TREES. 

There is more than one way for boys and girls to' become ac- 
quainted with our common trees. Some are so fortunate as to have 
a teacher available who knows the trees and is willing to point out 
their distinctive features and peculiar habits. Others are less fortu- 
nate in that they do not have a teacher familiar with the trees, but 
they do have available for use a good supply of helpful tree leaflets 
and manuals. But there is a third group of boys and girls and this 
includes by far the largest number, who have neither a good teacher 
nor satisfactory literature available to pursue a course of tree study. 
It is primarily for this third class of boys and girls that the material 
on the following pages has been prepared. 

One of the first things which boys and girls should know about 
tree study is the fact that to attempt to learn to know all the trees 
is a big and long Job, for there are over a hundred different trees 
native to Pennsylvania. It may be well in this connection to re- 
member the old adage "Do not attempt too much for fear of ac- 
complishing too little." Much better results will be attained by 
selecting a small group of trees, or a certain number of representative 




Photo by J. B. IlUeb. 

NEEDLE CLUSTERS OF THE SIX PINES NATIVE TO PENNSYLVANIA 

White pine is the only pine native to Pennsylvania with five needles in a cluster ; 
pitch pine has three needles in a cluster; while the other four native pines have two 
needles in a cluster. Left to right : Red pine, pitch pine, table mountain pine, short- 
leaf »r yellow pine, Jersey or scrub pine, white pine. 




Photo by J. S. Mick. 

CONES OF THE SIX PINES NATIVE TO PENNSYLVANIA. 

Left to right: Red pine, pitch pine, table mountain pine, short-leaf or vellow 
pine, Jersey or scrub pine, white pine. 






O 

a 

2! 



w 




c< ft 
i— i 

SO d 

W 3" 



«*^* 11 W"ii>iWi>llfi* nl ^fi^?3« ' Ji*<^> 


• 








S' 1 

-'■'.■ 


**;3l a WNr*'^. '*"**> 




-.- 


B$£2#lsK# * %'* 


- 


F < 


iaF-^ 3j 


£ --•" #*• ,"- •< ... 




p 




^|^^^S^^<4'|^pSESaHBS& 


■ I'' ' * Jm*-'*' C 




r^T^^^n^^*- ^i, 


> , IsKi&i 


'•At" '** "i-"^C? 


- .. - ' - .' 


s ' . - -. ' 


L ' -*A'' ' ^'^'' "",J* 


■■ .■■■■ ::.„. 





a 




species and learn to know them well, rather than attempt to master 
all of them and later on find that you have acquired only a super- 
ficial smattering of most of them and know none real intimately. 

SOME REPRESENTATIVE PENNSYLVANIA FOREST 

TREES. 

A small number of Pennsylvania forest trees have been selected 
for special consideration in this booklet. They are fairly representa- 
tive trees and possess some striking and interesting characteristics. 
There are many other equally interesting and important trees which 
may be considered in later editions. The trees that will be de- 
scribed are : 

1. White Pine 9. Red Mulberry 

2. Red Pine 10. Sugar Maple 

3. Pitch Pine 11. Red Maple 

4. Short-leaf Pine 12. Silver Maple 

5. Jersey or Scrub Pine 13. Ash-leaved Maple- 

6. Table Mountain Pine 14. Striped Maple 

7. Buttonwood 15. Mountain Maple 

8. Sassafras 16. Norway Maple 

17. Sycamore Maple. 



THE PINES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Six different kinds of pine trees are native to Pennsylvania. One 
or more of them occurs in every county of the state, but only the 
white pine and the pitch pine have a wide distribution. The other 
four native pines have a rather restricted range. 

In the winter months, there is something cheerful and lively in the 
appearance of the pines in spite of the cold and the snow. They 
may readily be distinguished by their leaves which are needle-like, 
occur in clusters of 2, 3, or 5, and persist throughout the winter. 
The latter characteristic places them among the evergreen trees. 

The 34 different pines which are native to North America are 
classified into two groups, namely, Soft Pines and Hard Pines. Of 
the pines native to Pennsylvania the white pine alone belongs to the 
Soft Pine group, the other five species belonging to the Hard Pines. 

In order that the pines of Pennsylvania may be recognized by 
©very boy and girl, two simple keys have been prepared, the one 
based on leaf characteristics and the other on cone features. 



35 
LEAF KEY OF PENNSYLVANIA PINES* 

1. Leaves slender, 5 in a cluster White Pine 

1. Leaves usually stiff, 2 or 3 in a cluster —2 

2. Leaves 3 in a cluster Pitch Pine 

2. Leaves 2 in a cluster — 3 

3. Leaves 5 to 6 inches long. Red Pine 

3. Leaves 4 inches or less in length - -4 

4. Leaves stiff and very sharp-pointed -~ — 

Table Mountain Pine 

4. Leaves slender to slightly stiff, dull-pointed - 5 

5. Leaves twisted, stout, 1^ — 3^ inches long ~~ — 

Jersey or Scrub Pine 

5 Leaves straight, rather slender, about 4 inches long 

(sometimes 3 or 4 in a cluster, Short-leaf Pine 

CONE KEY OF PENNSYLVANIA PINES 

1. Cones 5 to 10 inches long _ White Pine 

1. Cones less than 4 inches long l 

2 Cone scales not armed with prickles or spines 

Red Pme 

2. Cone scales armed with prickles or spines 3 

3. Cone scales armed with prickles - 4 

3 Cone scales armed with stout spines - — ~ 

Table Mountain Pine 

4 Cones narrowly and sharply conical when closed 

Jersey or Scrub Fine 

4. Cones broadly and bluntly conical when closed 5 

5. Cone scales thickened at apex and armed with short, 

rigid and recurved prickles -...Pitch Pine 

5. Cone scales slightly enlarged at apex and armed 
with weak prickles which may fall off early 

Short-leaf Pine 

WHITE PINE 

The discovery of the white pine, which is the prince of all the 
forest trees of eastern North America, coincides with the landing 
of the Pilgrims on the bleak coast of New England. It was one of 
the few green things which greeted them, and it truly made a lasting 

"^Te of the best methods of identifying trees * by ^ "se of a ^J^^TSSt^ 
are simple in their make-up and may be used with ^^"^kgraphS preceded by the same 
characteristics of trees made up m pairs t ^ stated in two l-Ma g r ap p ^ rapn> 

^t^^^S^^^^^^^^ ££U ° r 6lSe ^ ttee iD qUe8t1011 

d0 &e^ot^^ 

of a tree or by a number. If the ^"^.fJ^J^l^J^s further on in the key preceded 
number follows then it directs you to two c0 'Xe tree in Pef, sylvania with three needles In a 
by ihat number. For example, If you find a pine tree mi eimsji 

cluster you may identify it by the use ■ ?* * te l£* ^ » The chaCcteristics do not fit fhi 
statements of characteristics preceded by the number 1. ine f ^ w ^ d by .. a .» This directs 
first paragraph but will come under the second paragraph ™™J^™™ e £ ?£ e fir8t a nd not the 

SS£ ^^J &I& SXTt^Vl^'^^^^ Pine> whleh name f0ll0W8 the flr8t 

paragraph preceded by the number "2.' 




OUR NATIVE WHITE PINE MAY BE RECOGNIZED BY 
ITS DEEPLY-FURROWED BARK. 




A CLUSTER OF POLLEN- 
BEARING BLOSSOMS OF 
THE WHITE PINE 
GROUPED BETWEEN 
THE NEW AND THE 
OLD NEEDLE CLUS- 
TERS. 




Photo ov J- S. Illick. 

PINE TREES MAY BE RECOGNIZED BY THEIR FORM. 
The white pine (left) and the short-leaf pine (right) are of the same age and grew 
up in the same environment. 



38 

and favorable impression upon them and those who came after 
them., There is no tree in the civilized part of the World which 
surpasses it in beauty, stateliness, individuality and usefulness. 

Many years passed before the entire range of the white pine be- 
came known. As the pioneers pushed forward they found that this 
valuable timber tree had limits. In some localities it was abundant, 
in other places it was rare, and as they passed beyond the Allegheny 
Mountains it ceased to be a part of the forest. Now we know that 
it is found only in the eastern part of North America, extending 
northward as far. as Newfoundland and the northern shore of the 
Gulf of the St. Lawrence, westward to Manitoba and Minnesota, 
and southward to northern Illinois and Pennsylvania and along the 
Alleghenies to Georgia. 

In Pennsylvania the white pine originally formed dense stands, 
especially in the central and northern parts of the State. Many 
lumbermen claim that the best and most valuable stands of timber 
found in the whole United States east of Idaho occurred originally 
in northern Pennsylvania, and consisted of white pine and hem- 
lock. White pine is still common in the mountainous part of the 
State, occurs sparingly in the western and southeastern parts, and 
rarely found in the agricultural valleys such as the Lancaster, Leb- 
anon, Chester, Cumberland, Lower Lehigh, and Lower Delaware 
Valleys. 

The white pine is one of our trees which may be recognized with- 
out much effort. It is the only evergreen tree native to eastern 
North America which has its soft, flexible, and bluish-green needles 
arranged in clusters of five. The lateral branches occur in whorls 
of 3 to 7 arranged in distinct horizontal layers. After the branches 
fall off they leave distinct circles of branch-scars along the stems. 
The cones are 5 to 10 inches long, attached to the twigs by a short 
stalk, rarely hang long upon the trees, and are covered with thin, 
flat and unarmed scales. 

The wood is soft, straight-grained, and works easily. It weighs 
about 25 pounds per cubic foot, and was formerly used for a wider 
range of purposes than any other American wood. It is adapted 
for practically all purposes except where strength, hardness, flexi- 
bility, and durability in contact with the soil are required. 

Sawmills began the manufacture of white pine lumber in 1623, 
and in 1635 a cargo was shipped to England from Massachusetts. 
Authentic records show that the first house built in America was 
constructed of white pine. In fact, the wood of this tree held such 
a prominent place in the lumber industry of America until about 
1890 that the history of its exploitation was essentially the history 
of the whole lumber industry. 

The white pine is the most important forest tree in eastern North 



SI 

America, and probably in the World. It was introduced into Eng- 
land by Lord Weymouth and shortly afterwards into continental 
Europe, where it has been propagated so extensively that it is no 
longer regarded as a foreigner but as a naturalized member of their 
forests. 

The white pine promises to become more abundant again, for it 
is being planted extensively and the remaining natural growth is 
now given better protection from forest fires and other destructive 
agents. Since 1902 over 25 million small white pine trees have been 
planted in Pennsylvania, and during the planting season of 1918 
alone over 4 million seedlings and transplants were set out in the 
Keystone state. They are raised from seed produced in cones on 
mature trees. At the base of each cone scale two seeds with long 
brown paper-like wings are produced. The seeds are small in size 
and brown in color. It takes from 25,000 to 35,000 seeds to make 
a pound of clean seed. A pound of white pine seed is sufficient to 
sow a forest tree nursery bed of 100 square feet, and if all goes 
well, such a bed will produce 10,000 to 15,000 two-year old seedlings. 

Many of these baby trees were set out by school boys, school girls 
and by Boy Scout organizations. Tree planting by boys and girls 
should be encouraged. It is a pleasant pastime and a useful prac- 
tice. Their growth will visualize the building-up process in nature 
and be an excellent counter-part to the tearing-down operations 
which were impressed so vividly upon all of us during the recent 
world war. 

PITCH PINE 

Pitch pine possesses more common names than any other pine 
native to Pennsylvania. It has at least a dozen of them. Some of 
them are pitch pine, jack pine, hard pine, yellow pine, torch pine, 
nigger pine, black pine, scrub pine, long-leaved pine, rich pine, and 
fat pine. The scientific name of pitch pine is Pinus rigida. 

Most of the common names refer to some distinctive feature of the 
tree or its wood. The name black pine and nigger pine refer to the 
dark bark frequently found upon large trunks. The name torch 
pine was given to it because it supplied the early settlers with pine 
knots-used as torches about the primitive cabins and for traveling 
at night. The name yellow pine refers to old and mature trees that 
have replaced their typical blackish bark with yellowish bark. The 
names rich pine and fat pine are used locally. The backwoodsmen 
of Pennsylvania used these names because many of the old trees are 
rich or fat with resin. The name long-leaved pine is quite appropri- 
ate when one considers only the pines of the northeast, for some 
pitch pine trees develop needles much longer than any of our other 
native pines. It is not unusual to find trees with needles six or more 
inches in length. 



40 

The pitch pine, next to the white pine, is the easiest of the pines 
native to Pennsylvania to recognize, for it has positive distinguish- 
ing" characteristics. Its needles are from three to five inches long 
and occur in bundles of three. The other hard pines of Pennsylvania 
have their needles in bundles of two and they vary greatly in length 
and texture from those of the pitch pine. 

The bark of the pitch pine is ragged in appearance and breaks up 
into irregular plates separated by rather conspicuous furrows. Early 
in the life of a pitch pine tree the bark becomes quite thick, and 
after the sapling stage is reached the trees are fire-resistant. This 
thick bark accounts for the fact that the pitch pine is the most fire- 
resistant evergreen tree of the East. Forest fires will kill small 
seedlings, but as soon as the trees reach the sapling stage they de- 
velop a heavy bark. Severe forest fires have burned over extensive 
forest areas, and it appeared as if every living thing had been killed, 
but upon examining the area a year after the fire, one is often amazed 
to find that many of the medium-sized and larger pitch pine trees 
have withstood the extreme heat and are still growing. 

Pitch pine does not present a neat appearance, but it is a rather 
picturesque tree. . Its crown is irregular in outline and the trunk 
is often covered with gnarled branches, and occasionally with dense 
mats of leaves. It is the only Pennsylvania pine that produces 
these dense mats of leaves along the main stem, which occasionally 
envelop the trunk completely. 

The cones of pitch pine are from two to two and one-half inches 
long. They are spherical to. ovate in outline when open, persist for 
many years, and sometimes occur in dense clusters. A few years 
ago the writer found a cluster of nineteen cones on a small branch 
upon a young tree in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Trees loaded 
down with thousands of cones are common. They may become a 
burden to the tree, and sometimes prove fatal, for during heavy 
snow storms the cones make an excellent place upon which the 
snow accumulates, and it is not unusual for it to collect in such 
large quantities that the branches break off and sometimes the en- 
tire crown is crushed completely. 

The pitch pine is found from New Brunswick to Lake Ontario on 
the north, and south to Virginia, and along the mountains to 
Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It is probably the most widely 
distributed pine in Pennsylvania. It was originally less common 
than the white pine, but since the great lumbering days, during 
which the white pine was cut out, the pitch pine has been on the 
rise. It is found in every county in the State, but is commonest in 
the mountainous regions where -it is associated with the rock oak 
and chestnut. 

There are some excellent stands of pitch pine in Pennsylvania, and 
it is quite probable that within this State are found some of the be»t 



41 

stands in the entire range of the tree. The pitch pine trees of Mont 
Alto, in Franklin County, Snow Shoe, in Centre County, and selected 
stands in Pike and Clearfield Counties are hard to surpass. From a 
commercial point of view, the pitch pine is not so important a tree 
as the white pine, but it is gaining favor for new and better uses 
are continuously being found for its wood. In the early days, when 
white pine was plentiful, no one cared to handle the inferior pitch 
pine wood, but conditions have changed and now it is looked upon 
with favor for many uses. It has won a place in our markets and 
in time it will move forward to a better position. It seems fair to 
assume that the wood of this tree will improve in quality when the 
trees are raised under good forest conditions. 

Pitch pine gives us a good example of a tree that should not be 
condenmed before studying its forest habits and growth peculiari- 
ties. Until a few years ago this tree was regarded as a slow grower, 
and because of this belief was called jack pine. A special study was 
made of its growth, and it was found that it grew more rapidly than 
was apparent, for instead of laying on all the growth of the season 
at one time it often places it in two or more installments. This in- 
stallment method of growth was responsible for the false notion 
that it grew slowly. 

The wide natural distribution of pitch pine in Pennsylvania, — its 
fire resistance, — and the fact that it is well adapted to our mountain 
soil, — recommend it as an important forest tree of Pennsylvania. 
While it appears to be an ordinary tree, yet it has so many good 
points that its importance and value will increase as the practice of 
forestry becomes more firmly established. 

RED PINE 

The red pine is a valuable timber tree. It has a number of com- 
mon names. Probably the one used most frequently is Norway 
pine, a name wholly out of place because it is neither a native of 
Norway nor does it bear any resemblance to the pine trees of Nor- 
way. It is reported that the name Norway pine was given to this 
tree by a Spanish sea captain who thought this tree resembled pine 
trees he had seen in Norway. This supposed resemblance is respon- 
sible for the inappropriate name of Norway pine which has persisted 
until to-day and will no doubt continue for a long time, in spite of 
the fact that it is meaningless and misleading. Another common 
name is red pine. This is an appropriate name for the bark of the 
tree is reddish in color and the heartwood is usually pale red. The 
scientific name of red pine is Pinus resinosa, and means resin pine. 
This name is also inappropriate for its wood contains little resin in 
comparison with that of other pines. 

The red pine is a native of the Northwoods. It extends as far 
south as central Pennsylvania and the Lake States. It reaches a 




THE WHITE PINE HAS A DISTINCTIVE GONE AND 
ITS NEEDLES OCCUR IN CLUSTERS OF FIVE. 




THE OLDEST WHITE PINE PLANTATION ON THE STATE FORESTS OF 
PENNSYLVANIA. THE TREES HAVE BEEN NUMBERED AND A 
RECORD OF THE GROWTH OF BACH TREE IS KEPT. 



aggsss 

S§>3§3 
SSggzS 






B p l!66 



*H h*. hH h^ ^ r 

P W H td»^ 

g6§gh 

28^12 




44 

height of 70 or 80 feet and a diameter of 3 feet. In some parts of its 
natural range it attains an even greater size, and, as a rule, it is 
mixed with other trees. The optimum growth of this tree is in the 
northern part of the Lake States and in the southern province of 
Canada. Recently a new outpost of red pine was found on a farm 
woodlot near Selinsgrove, in Snyder County, Pennsylvania. This 
new station is 75 miles south of the most southern station of red 
pine that was ever reported. 

Probably the most distinctive features of the red pine are its 
needles and cones. The needles are slender, flexible, from 4 to 6 
inches long, and occur in clusters of two. They are surrounded at 
the base by a thin membranous covering or paper-like wrapper. The 
needles are grouped together in tufts at the ends of the branches. 
This characteristic is very helpful in recognizing the tree from a dis- 
tance. The cones are about 2 inches long. They occur at the end 
of the season's growth and their scales are not armed with any 
spines or prickles. It is the only pine native to Pennsylvania whose 
cone-scales are unarmed. In addition to the leaf and cone character- 
istics, which should enable anyone to identify it at all seasons of 
the year, its general form and appearance and its distinctive bark 
will also help to identify it. It is unquestionably one of the most 
attractive conifers of the northeast and is being planted extensively 
for ornamental purposes. 

The red pine is one of the most important timber trees of Penn- 
sylvania, and as time goes on its real merits will become better 
known. It is not so abundant now in Pennsylvania as it was origin- 
ally, for practically all the big trees brave been cut out, and only 
a limited number of young trees have followed after the old veterans. 
The hope of having red pine in Pennsylvania in the future lies not 
in the natural growth that is coming on, but in the trees that are 
being planted. During the past ten years more than 1,000,000 red 
pine seedlings and transplants were planted on the State Forests of 
Pennsylvania and about 700,000 more were supplied by the Depart- 
ment of Forestry to private planters throughout the State. This 
does not include all the red pine trees planted within the State, for 
additional trees were purchased from nurseries and planted on pri- 
vate forest land. It seems fair to estimate that at least 2,000,000 red 
pine trees have already been planted in Pennsylvania and most of 
them are growing rapidly. 

This valuable and promising forest tree should be carefully pro- 
tected and its range extended by planting seedlings and transplants 
on the large areas of devastated mountain land in Pennsylvania. It 
has few enemies, grows rapidly, and if planted and protected will 
produce large quantities of high grade wood which is now urgently 
needed by our industries and homes. 



45 

SHORT-LEAF PINE 

The short-leaf pine has more than a dozen common names. Some 
of them are appropriate, while others are misleading, and may em- 
barrass one who attempts to identify it. The scientific name of the 
short-leaf pine is Pinus echinata. Of its fifteen common names none 
will ever replace short-leaf pine, for the leaves of this tree are truly 
short in comparison with those of the longleaf pine and other pines 
with which it is associated. Its distinctive leaves are from two to 
four inches long and usually occur in pairs, but occasionally three 
appear in a cluster, and sometimes four may be found in a group. 

The cones of the short-leaf pine are rather distinctive. They are 
brown in color, from one and one-half to two and one-half inches 
long, nearly as wide as long when open, and attached to the branches 
by a short stalk. Each cone-scale has an enlarged end, which is 
armed with a weak prickle. Early in autumn the cones open to die- 
charge the small triangular seeds which are produced in large num- 
bers and scattered widely about the trees. Heavy seed crops occur 
at rather short intervals, which justifies one in being hopeful that 
nature will continue to propagate this important forest tree. Even 
as far north as southern Pennsylvania a large number of seedling 
trees are found in openings about older trees. 

One of the best distinguishing characteristics of the short-leaf pine 
is its clean, stately, and slightly tapering, trunk — the bark of which 
is marked off by deep furrows into irregular or rectangular plates 
covered with thin scales. Some of the old specimens have been ap- 
propriately called "armored knights of the forest," for the bark is 
so distinctive and the tree trunk so impressive that the tree cannot 
be confused with its associates. 

Short-leaf pine is found over an area of more than 440,000 square 
miles, but is of commercial importance over about two-thirds of its 
natural range. Its natural range extends as far north as western 
Connecticut, but near Mont Alto, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, 
is the most northern heavy stand of short-leaf pine in America. In 
this stand are many stately trees with trunks two and one-half feet 
in diameter at breast high, and clear of branches for sixty feet from 
the ground. These magnificient trees are covered with a distinctive 
armored bark fully as typical as any grown in the south. 

The short-leaf pine is commonest in the South, where it makes its 
best growth at elevations of 400 to 1,500 feet above sea level. It is, 
however, found from sea level to an altitude of 3,000 feet in the 
southern Appalachians. The commercial range of short-leaf pine has 
contracted considerably since the settlement of our country. It once 
grew as far north as Albany, and from fifty to one hundred years 
ago it was lumbered in many places in Pennsylvania where it has 



46 



now ceased to exist or only a few scattered trees remain. The 
geographical range is now given as from New York to Florida, west 
to Missouri, Oklahoma, and northeastern Texas. 

In Pennsylvania the short-leaf pine occurs only locally. There is 
only one heavy stand in the State and that is found near Mont Alto 
in Franklin County. A few trees are found locally throughout the 
southeastern part of the State, and scattered specimens have been 
found as far north as Lycoming County, where it is reported that 
the tree was formerly far more abundant than it is now. It may be 
said that the tree is practically extinct in Pennsylvania excepting 
in local places in the southern and southeastern part of the State. 
The hope of keeping this important timber tree as a member 
of the forests of Pennsylvania is in the fact that a considerable 
number of young trees are beginning to appear about the few old 
trees that still remain, and a considerable number are being planted 
for reforestation. In the fall of 1921, 140 pounds of seed were 
planted in the Mont Alto nursery operated by the Pennsylvania 
Department of Forestry. With 50,000 to 60,000 seeds to each 
pound, there should result from this seed sowing at least two million 
seedlings. 

The short-leaf pine is a companionable tree. One may find small 
forest areas occupied by it exclusively, but in the most of its range 
it is associated with hardwoods or other evergreen trees. Among 
its companions are pitch pine, scrub pine, and occasionally loblloly 
pine. At high elevations the white pine and table mountain pine 
stand by its side. Many kinds of hardwoods, such as oak, hickory, 
sassafras, ash, and cherry, are also associated with it. 

The wood of short-leaf pine is hard, strong, and yellowish to dark 
brown. It weighs about forty pounds to the cubic foot and is used 
extensively for a large number of- purposes. It is in great demand 
by builders of freight cars, large quantities are used for general 
construction work, and box and crate makers employ large quanti- 
ties. 

Short-leaf pine has been an important timber tree for many years, 
and everything points that it will continue to hold a place in the 
forest structure of southern and southeastern Pennsylvania. It at- 
tains a size sufficiently large for forestry purposes, produces excel- 
lent wood, yields large quantities of resin, and is well adapted to the 
climate and soil conditions in the forest regions of southern Penn- 
sylvania and the south Atlantic States. 

Every boy and girl interested in outdoor life will do well to try to 
locate a specimen of short-leaf pine in the natural forests of Penn- 
sylvania and then become its protector. If no specimen can be 
found in the woods, you can satisfy your desire to perpetuate this 



47 

wonderful tree of the southland by planting a number of young 
seedlings and then watch them grow year by year into stately forest 

trees. 

SCRUB PINE 

The scrub pine is unfortunate in its common names. The word 
"scrub" implies that the tree is undesirable as a forest tree and pro- 
duces inferior wood. The wood is inferior to that of white pine and 
some of the other important pines, but this does not necessarily mean 
that it is not satisfactory for use in wood-using industries. Each 
year the wood of this tree is being used more extensively for pulp, 
shipping crates, and general construction work. A few years ago 
more than 20,000 board feet of lumber were cut from trees of this 
species in the woodlot of Colonel Henry W. Shoemaker near McEl- 
hattan, in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, and used in the construc- 
tion of one of the most attractive and substantially constructed barns 
of northern Pennsylvania. 

The scrub pine is also called Jersey pine, because it was at one 
time reported as abundant in parts of New Jersey, where pine forests 
covered extensive areas known as the "pine barrens." Recent 
studies, however, show that most of the trees in the pine barrens are 
pitch pine and not scrub pine. Another common name applied local- 
ly to this tree is "slate pine." This name is used widely in southern 
Pennsylvania where this tree frequently occurs on slaty or shale 
soil. The scientific name of scrub pine is Pinus virginiana. ^ 

Scrub pine has many striking distinguishing characteristics. Its 
needles occur in pairs. They are twisted, spread widely from each 
other, and are from two to three inches long. These short needles 
are responsible for the common names "short-leaved pine" and 
"shortshat pine." No other Pennsylvania pine has needles which 
are so short, .so twisted, and spread so widely. If one takes a posi- 
tion under a scrub pine tree and looks up into its crown, the light 
seems to be uniformly screened by the evenly distributed short 
needles. This type of leaf distribution is entirely different from some 
other pines, particularly the red and pitch pines which have their 
needles clustered or tufted at the ends of the branches. 

The branchlets also have a distinctive feature. They are smooth, 
purplish, tough, and usually wavy— not stiff and straight as those of 
the other pines. The bark of the trunk is smoother and redder m 
color than that of any other native pine. Upon the older trunk the 
bark peels off in thin scales, giving the trunk a ragged appearance. 
The cones are narrow and conical, rather sharp-pointed, and often 
persist for several years. They are helpful in recognizing this small 
and distinctive forest tree. 

The occurrence of the scrub pine may also be helpful in recog- 
nizing it. It is neither a tree of the coastal plains nor of the high 



mountains, but prefers the rolling uplands between these two ex- 
treme positions. It is found from southeastern New York and Penn- 
sylvania south to Georgia and Alabama, and west to Indiana and 
Kentucky. In Pennsylvania it occurs locally throughout the south- 
ern part of the State, and extends as far north as Allegheny County 
in the western part, Clinton and Lycoming Counties in the central 
part, and Northampton County in the eastern part. 

The scrub pine may be regarded as a pioneer tree, for it is one of 
the first of our forest trees to march out from the forest and reclaim 
abandoned fields. There are thousands of acres of farmland in 
southern and central Pennsylvania abandoned within the last thirty 
years and now being occupied rapidly by the scrub pine. This tree 
cannot be placed in the class with the forest giants or sylvan mon- 
arch?, but it reaches a height of eighty feet and a diameter of two 
feet. Usually mature trees are from thirty to forty feet high and 
have a diameter of eighteen inches. The largest specimen reported 
in Pennsylvania has a total height of 82 feet and a diameter of 28 
inches at breast-high. 

TABLE MOUNTAIN PINE 

The table mountain pine is the least known of the pines of Penn- 
sylvania. For a long time it was thought that this tree occurred 
only upon the high tablelands of the southern Allegheny Mountains ; 
but in 1863 a few specimens were found in central Pennsylvania by 
the late Dr. J. T. Rothrock while tramping over the hills of his native 
State with his teacher, Dr. Asa Gray- — the world-famed botanist of 
Harvard University." Now this tree is known to occur in many 
places within the State as far north as Clinton and Union Counties, 
and northeast to Berks and Schuylkill Counties. These are the most 
northern outposts that are now known in the tree's entire natural 
range. 

Each year new places are found within the State where the table 
mountain pine is growing. These new reports may be appearing 
because the tree is found chiefly in remote and inaccessible situa- 
tions, which have been little explored by naturalists. The boys and 
girls of Pennsylvania should get much pleasure by organizinz clubs 
to go out and find new stations of this rare tree. In order to be suc- 
cessful in this exploration work, it is necessary to go to the rough 
and rugged mountain tops and ragged cliff's, for it is in such situa- 
tions that this tree is usually found. 

The table mountain pine is also called poverty pine, because it 
grows and usually thrives on poor, rocky and shallow mountain 
soils. The scientific name of this pine is Pinus pungens. It is an 
aggressive tree and consequently becomes a good competitor with 
other trees upon poor soil and exposed situations upon which it 
sometimes occurs in pure stands. This mountain tree, however. 



49 

makes its most rapid growth and develops its best form when stand- 
ing in mixtures with hardwood trees upon rather fertile soil. What 
is probably the largest table mountain pine tree ever recorded in the 
World grew upon a mountain side near Mont Alto, Franklin County, 
Pennsylvania. This specimen was seventy-three feet high, twenty- 
three inches in diameter at breast-high, and free from branches for a 
distance of forty feet from the ground. 

While the table mountain pine is typical of our highland forests, 
it is also found locally at low elevations. A few years ago the 
writer found a considerable number of trees of this species growing 
upon an island in the Susquehanna River below McCall's Ferry in 
Pennsylvania at an elevation of only about two hundred feet above 
sea level. The roots of the trees arc washed continuously by the 
flowing water — a habitat so different from that upon which they 
usually occur. Specimens of this tree were also found upon other 
nearby islands and on the adjoining river hills of York and Lan- 
caster Counties. 



Few trees are easier to identify than the table mountain pine. Its 
needles, which are present at all seasons of the year, occur in pairs. 
They are very stout, stiff, and extremely sharp-pointed. No other 
pine tree native to eastern North America has such sharp-pointed 
needles. The cones of this tree are equally distinctive. They are 
coarse in appearance and bear cone scales which are armed with 
stout spines. They are from three to four inches long and usually 
occur in clusters of three, five, seven, or even more. These distinc- 
tive cones often persist for many years and cannot be confused with 
those of any other cone-bearing tree of the eastern United States. 

The preference of this tree for poor rocky soil, and exposed situa- 
tions, may also help to identify it, for it is found only from Pennsyl- 
vania south along the mountains to North Carolina and northern 
Georgia. When grown in the open its lateral branches persist on the 
main stem down to the ground, but if grown in dense stands the 
trunk is free from branches for a considerable distance from the 
ground, and the wood of such forest-grown specimens is satisfactorv 
for general use. 

The table mountain pine cannot be classified as a commercial 
timber tree of great importance, but it should not be despised, for 
like all other trees it has some merits. As the practice of forestry 
becomes more intensive, this tree will be utilized in protection 
forests on steep mountain slopes where it will help prevent erosion 
and assist in building up better forest conditions, and while it is 
doing this it will produce wood that can be used for a large number 
of ordinary purposes. 



BUTTONWOOD OR SYCAMORE 

Our imtlvt buttonwood tree belongs to the plane tree family. 
Only three different kinds of buttonwood trees are native to the 
United States. All of them attain tree size and belong to a group 
known by the technical name Platanus, which means "broad" and 
refers to the width of the leaves. The leaf-blades are not so broad 
as those of some tropical trees, but they are among the broadest 
found in temperate regions. 

Probably no person with a practical knowledge of trees ever con- 
fuses the buttonwood with any other native forest tree. Notwith- 
standing the individuality of the tree, it has a good many common 
names. It is generally known as buttonwood in most of the New 
England and Middle Atlantic States, but it is also frequently called 
sycamore. In several of the eastern States, and occasionally in the 
Mississippi Valley, it is called buttonball, and locally in eastern 
Pennsylvania and in Delaware the name water beech is given to it. 
Ever since the closely-related oriental plane tree has been introduced 
on an extensive scale for ornamental planting, our native button- 
wood tree is sometimes spoken of as the plane tree. The scientific 
name of our native buttonwood is Platanus occidentalis. 

Our native buttonwood is found from Maine to Ontario and Neb- 
raska, and south to the Gulf States, and west to Texas. It prefers 
moist, fertile soil but will grow in dry places. In Pennsylvania it 
is common along the streams and in other wet places in the eastern, 
southern, central, and western part of the State, but it is rare to 
absent on dry situations and in the high mountains. 

The buttonwood stands out among our forest trees in that it casts 
its bark as well as its leaves. All trees do this to a greater or less 
extent, for it is a necessity of life that the bark yield to the pressure 
of the growing stem from within. Bark shedding is not hidden in 
the case of the shagbark hickory, silver maple, and ironwood, but 
the buttonwood is even more open in exhibiting its ability along 
this line than any other forest tree. 

The most striking distinguishing characteristic of our native 
buttonwood is its thin, smooth, whitish, or pale green bark on young 
trunks resembling a crazy patchwork of white, green, yellow, and 
brown. In winter, the predominant color is white, while in summer 
there is a tendency towards green and brown. The leaves are sim- 
ple, usually heart-shaped at the base, and wavy on the margin. They 
are from three to seven-lobed, and hairy or wooly on the lower sur- 
face. The most" distinctive feature of the leaf is the enlarged or 
swollen base of the leaf-stalk. In late summer, just before the 
leaves begin to fall, one of the delights of the country boy is to ask 
his playmates to find buds on the buttonwood tree. A superficial 
examination of the twigs causes one to conclude that this tree bears 



II 

no buds, but a little bit of patience and a somewhat closer examina- 
tion of the twigs will reveal that the buttonwood doe§ have buda, 
and that. they are hidden entirely under the enlarged stalks of the 
leaves. Nature seems to have provided a protective cover for the 
tender buds until they are fit to withstand the cold of late autumn 
and early winter. As soon as the buds are hardened up, the leaves 
fall off and the buds are ready for winter exposure. Because of 
their unusual position, the buds of buttonwood trees are often de- 
scribed as sub-petiolar, which means "under the petiole or leaf- 
stalk." This unusual characteristic enables anyone to identify 
buttonwood trees very easily during autumn and the winter months. 

Another striking characteristic of the buttonwood is its fruit, 
which consists of small balls suspended on slender stalks. The balls 
are about one inch in diameter, and composed of a large number of 
slender and densely-packed seeds. One ball contains thousands of 
seeds. These balls ripen in late autumn, and may remain attached 
to the branches far into the winter, and some even hang on the 
trees until spring. 

In winter the smooth, reddish-brown, pointed buds are a sure 
means of identification. They are completely surrounded by a leaf- 
scar and covered with a single bud-scale. If one takes a good look 
at the buds and winter twigs of a buttonwood, it will be easy to 
recognize it at any time during the winter months, for they are such 
positive distinguishing characteristics that they cannot be confused 
with those of any other associated forest tree. 

The occurrence of the buttonwood is also helpful to identify it, 
for one usually finds it along the banks of streams, borders of ponds, 
and other wet places. In winter one often sees long wavy lines of 
sycamore trees which mark stream courses. They stand out con- 
spicuously among other associated trees because of their white bark 
and distinctive crown forms. 

The wood of the buttonwood is uniformly pale brown, somewhat 
tinged with red. It is a clean looking wood, and has an attractive 
appearance when manufactured, which accounts for the fact that it 
is extensively used in the manufacture of novelties and kitchen 
utensils. If one examines the numerous household articles offered 
for sale in a five and ten-cent' store, it will be found that many of 
them are made of the buttonwood. Brush backs, mouse traps, 
kitchen utensils, and building blocks are among these articles. One 
of the most desirable characteristics of this wood is the fact that it 
neither stains or imparts odor or taste to substances that come into 
contact with it. The latest statistics show that more than 35,000,000 
board feet of buttonwood are cut annually. About one-half of thi^ 
amount is used in the manufacture of boxes and crates. It ha^ 




T1IE BUTTONWOOD OR SYCAMORE IS READILY 

RECOGNIZED BY ITS DISTINCTIVE LEAVES. 

PECULIAR BALL-LIKE FRUIT. UNIQUE BUDS 

AND UNUSUAL LEAF APPENDAGES. 




THE GIANT DAUPHIN SYCAMORE. 
It is over 25 feet in circumference at the base and stands 
as a memorial to John Ooodway, the last of the friendly Indians 
•f Central Pensylvania. 




THE BARK OP THE SYCAMORE IS DISTINCTIVE. 
It is a patch work of white, green, brown, and yellow 



54 

long been the favorite wood for boxes for plug tobacco, which stains 
easily and acquires an unpleasant taste and odor from most other 
woods. 

Our native buttonwood has many good points, but unfortunately 
it has a number of serious enemies. Among them is a blight which 
attacks the leaves shortly after they have started to develop in 
spring. When the leaves are about one-third grown, little brown to 
black dots begin to appear upon them. These dots enlarge rapidly, 
and sometimes within a few days the leaves are completely browned 
up and shriveled, and fall to the ground. The leaves appear to be 
injured by frost, but the real cause of the damage is the blight, for 
which no practical remedy has yet been found. 

The buttonwood grows at its best throughout the Mississippi 
Valley, and it also reaches a large size along the main rivers and in 
the fertile valleys of Pennsylvania. There is a buttonwood tree 
standing near Linglestown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, known 
as the "Dauphin Sycamore." It has a circumference of more than 
twenty-five feet at the base, a branch spread of over one hundred 
feet, and is in a healthy condition. Local historians tell us that the 
tree s*tands as a memorial to John Goodway, the last of the friendly 
Indians that lived in central Pennsylvania. It is said that he is 
buried about one hundred yards north of this magnificient tree, 
which remains as a memorial to his otherwise unmarked grave. 

Among the historic trees of Pennsylvania is a buttonwood grow- 
ing near Chadd's Ford in Delaware County. It stands close by the 
house used by General Lafayette as his headquarters before the 
battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777. This tree is about seven 
feet in diameter, well proportioned, and remains as a worthy memo- 
rial to the great general. Another large buttonwood stands in a 
field on the old Rothermel farm in Maiden Creek Township, Berks 
County, Pa. It is the biggest tree in Berks County, Pennsylvania. 
This tree is over thirty-seven feet in circumference near the ground, 
one hundred and three feet high, and has a spread of branches of 
over one hundred feet. 

The buttonwood is the giant of all American hardwoods. A few 
years ago a large specimen was found near Worthington, Indiana. 
It measured forty-two feet and three inches in circumference at five 
feet above the ground, and is one hundred feet tall. It is not unlike 
other large sycamore trees in that it branches near the ground. Its 
east branch is twenty-seven feet and three inches in circumference, 
and its west branch twenty-three feet and two inches in circum- 
ference. 

We are just beginning to know the real merits of our native but- 
tonwood. It seems fair to predict that before long its wood will 
play a more important role in the lumber industry of America than 



ftft 

it has in the past, and with a better understanding of its quality and 
fuller information about its growth peculiarities, this tree will begin 
to take a worthy place among our forest trees. 

In addition to our native buttonwood or sycamore, another mem- 
ber of the family — native to southern Europe and western Asia — 
has been introduced extensively into Pennsylvania. It usually goes 
by the name "oriental plane tree." It has many good points and is 
being planted rather extensively for ornamental purposes. In the 
city of Philadelphia there are many specimens of it and most of 
them appear to be growing well. It grows rapidly, is hardy, pos- 
sesses a beautiful crown, gives ample shade, has an attractive bark, 
and is troubled by only a few insects and fungi. It stands in the 
front rank among our shade trees, and in spite of its foreign origin 
has established itself firmly among our ornamental trees. 

SASSAFRAS 

Sassafras is the only tree of its kind in the United States. There 
is only one other kind of sassafras tree in the World. It is a native 
of China, and like our native sassafras belongs to the Laurel family. 
Our native sassafas is found from Massachusetts to Iowa and Kan- 
sas, and south to Florida and Texas. In Pennsylvania one rarely 
finds it in the high mountains, but it is a common lowland tree in the 
eastern, southern, and western parts of the State. One frequently 
finds it along fence rows and in abandoned fields where it sometimes 
forms extensive and dense thickets. 

The sassafras was one of the first American trees that became 
widely known in Europe. The Indians told the early settlers about 
its medicinal bark and other properties, and the white man immedi- 
ately attempted to commercialize its bark and other products. It is 
reported that sassafras roots comprised a part of the first cargo ever 
exported from Massachusetts. At present its medicinal properties 
are not prized so highly as in the early days, but its roots are still 
used in the preparation of "Sassafras tea" and in the manufacture 
of flavors for medicines and candy. It is a common practice among 
the mountaineers of southern Pennsylvania to grub out the roots, 
put them up in small bundles, and carry them to nearby market 
places where they are sold for a nickel or dime a bundle. Sassafras 
root collectors prefer to dig them up in abandoned fields and along 
fence rows where young trees come up in large numbers, often form- 
ing dense thickets. 

The early inhabitants of Pennsylvania believed that the sassafras 
possessed miraculous healing properties. People then thought that 
sassafras could renew the youth of the human race. Even to-day 
this superstition still clings to this tree, and it is not entirely con- 
fined to ignorant people. Bedsteads made of sassafras are supposed 
to drive away nightly visitors that disturb peaceful slumbers. The. 



56 

negroes of the South prefer to floor their cabins with sassafras, for 
thev believe that it will keep away animals that may molest them. 
They believe too that sassafras poles are superior to all other woods 
for chicken roosts. They are confident that the poles will stop all 
kinds of men and animals that may attempt to lift the chickens from 
their roosts. 

The distinctive aromatic taste of the bark, roots, and wood, and 
the accompanying pleasant odor of the sassafras, are the best and 
most reliable means of identification. If one breaks off a brittle 
twig of green-barked sassafras, a pleasant aromatic odor is given 
out immediately, and upon chewing it the flavor of the mucilaginous 
inner bark is found to be very delicious. 

Three distinctive forms of leaves are often present on the same 
branch. Sometimes an even larger number of leaf forms may be 
found. The leaves are all simple in form and alternate in their ar- 
rangement. The oval entire-margined form is commonest. In the 
mitten form the leaf has one thumb-like projection which may be 
either on the right or on the. left side. Sometimes the leaves are 
prominently three-lobed, and occasionally five-lobed specimens may 
be found. 

The fruit is a dark berry which is borne on bright red and club- 
like fleshy stems and arranged in rather open clusters. It furnishes 
excellent food for birds but unfortunately does not persist until 
winter when the birds are often in great need of something to eat. 

Sassafras is not an important forest tree in Pennsylvania. It does 
not occur in every part of the State, for one rarely sees sassafras 
trees in the cold and mountainous parts of northern Pennsylvania. 
Near the northern limit of its range it is generally small, but farther 
south it becomes a large tree frequently 40 to 50 feet high and 1 to 
3 feet in diameter. Occasionally a tree is found that is 100 feet high 
and 3 to 4 feet in diameter. 

The largest sassafras tree that has ever been found in Pennsyl- 
vania stood in a cemetery at Horsham in Montgomery County. A 
group of four large sassafras trees are growing along a state road 
about one-quarter of a mile north of Wawa Station in Delaware 
County. One of them stands outside of the roadside fence and the 
other three within the fence. These four trees measure 10 feet 8 
inches, 11 feet 8 inches, 10 feet 7 inches, and 10 feet 4 inches in cir- 
cumference at three feet above the ground. Another large and his- 
toric sassafras tree stands near Second and Emerald Streets in 
Harrisburg. It is a real landmark for the tree is 209 years old. It is 
56 feet high and 13 feet in circumference at the base. It was about 
15 years old when J©hn Harris — the founder of Harrisburg — was 
born. This tree is no longer thrifty, for most of its crown has dis- 
appeared. 



57 

The wood of sassafras resembles that of the Chestnut and it is * 
often substituted for it on the market. In many localities sassafras 
wood is sought for the purpose of smoking meats, the claim being 
made that it imparts a very desirable taste. The wood is durable 
in contact with the soil and consequently used rather extensively 
for fence posts, rails, and occasionally it is manufactured into furni- 
ture. Sassafras wood is used more extensively than our records 
show for it is usually sold under other names. It is not unusual to 
find it listed under Ash, and when it is used in the manufacture of 
coffins it is listed as Chestnut. 

There exists no good reason for believing that the sassafras will 
become extinct, for it produces seeds abundantly and the birds carry 
them into fence corners and scatter them in large numbers over 
pastures where the young trees often form dense thickets. 

RED MULBERRY 

The red mulberry, when first discovered in Virginia, inflamed 
the early colonists with great hopes, for they thought they had 
found a new source of food for the silkworm. Unfortunately, their 
great commercial dreams never came true, for the red mulberry was 
no satisfactory substitute for the white mulberry, the leaves of 
which were the chief source of food for the silkworms in Europe and 
Asia. 

The red mulberry is the only mulberry native to the eastern 
United States. It is found from Massachusetts west to Kansas and 
south to Texas and Florida. Its best growth occurs in the lower 
Ohio Valley and the foothills of the southern Appalachian Moun- 
tain's. Nowhere in Pennsylvania is the native mulberry abundant, 
but it is found locally in the fertile valleys and along the foothills in 
the eastern and southern parts of the State. It also occurs locally 
in the central part, but is generally absent in the cold and moun- 
tainous regions. 

Being the only representative of its kind, it is not difficult to dis- 
tinguish the red mulberry from our other forest trees. In summer 
the large, roundish, sharp-tipped leaves with deeply sunken veins 
on the upper surface are distinctive. Some of the leaves are lobed 
and resemble an ordinary mitten in outline. The best distinguishing 
characteristic of the leaves is the milky secretion given out by the 
leaf-stalks if pressure is placed upon them. Only a few other trees 
give milk, and they bear no resemblance to the red mulberry. 

The flowers appear in spring when the leaves are about one-fourth 
developed. There are two kinds, namely, pollen-bearing and seed- 
producing. Both kinds occur in short tassels (catkins). The pollen- 
bearing and seed-producing occur separately, but may be found on 
the same or different trees. The seed-producting blossoms develop 





; fi*K3? 








Photo by J. 8. Illick. 

SASSAFRAS. 
Mature and immature (three forms) leaves, flowers, fruit, and a 
winter twig. 





Photo bv J- S. Illiok. 

RED MULBERRY. 
Mature and immature leaves, flowers, and winter twigs. 



MAPte SEEDS 




fAovu^-vMn HaiA* 




KeA Katt\« 




SVrsp«4 Kq,*>\<> 




Rs,Vvk^ ?V f k 



Na> xv,y>j Map\ 4 



FRUIT OP OUR COMMON MAPLES. 



60 

into purplish aggregate fruit which is the distinctive product of the 
tree. No other native tree produces a fruit which bears any re- 
semblance to that of the mulberries. 

In winter the red mulberry is not especially attractive, but it can 
readily be distinguished if its twigs are examined closely. They are 
very smooth, clean, and light-greenish brown. A milky juice comes 
out of them if they are cut. They bear oval and hollow leaf-scars 
which contain a large number of dot-like bundle-scars arranged in a 
closed ellipse, or they are sometimes distributed irregularly over ' 
the surface of the leaf-scars. No other tree has leaf-scars with such 
a hollow, bowl-like surface. 

Two foreign mulberries have been planted rather extensively in 
Pennsylvania. They are the white mulberry and the paper rnul- 
berry. In some localities they have escaped cultivation and occasion- 
ally they are mistaken for the native red mulberry. The white 
mulberry is a native of China and the paper mulberry is a native 
of Japan. The former is common in some localities of Pennsylvania 
and it is not unusual to find it in woodlots and waste places, for in 
many places it has escaped from cultivation. The paper mulberry 
is much rarer in Pennsylvania and belongs to an entirely different 
group of trees. It belongs to a group of trees known by the scienti- 
fic name Broussonetia, while the true mulberries bear the technical 
name Morus. Specimens of paper mulberry may be found upon 
waste areas near towns and cities, and occasionally it appears as an 
ornamental tree. 

The red mulberry cannot be classified as an important timber 
tree, but it has many qualities which have been utilized by man. 
The fruit is valued for fattening hogs and poultry. It is also inti- 
mately associated with harvest time, for many a weary harvester 
has found shelter under its crown, and been refreshed by its fruit. 
Mulberry trees are common objects along fence rows bordering 
fields of golden grain. The mulberry waterkeg holds a prominent 
place in many localities, for it is claimed by the laborers who work 
in the field that no receptacle is so well adapted to carry and keep 
water as a keg made of mulberry wood. The wood is very durable 
and used chiefly by boatbuilders, coopers, and implement makers. 

THE MAPLES 

The maples are among the best known trees in the Northern 
Hemisphere. They are abundant in China and Japan, common in 
Europe, and widely distributed in North America. There are seven- 
ty different kinds of maples known in the world. Thirty-five of 
them are native to China and Japan, and thirteen occur in North 
America. Six of the latter are native to Pennsylvania. 



61 

Japan is the ancestral home of the maples. It is said that one can 
find in the Island Empire of the Orient traces of the first maple tree 
that ever grew on the surface of the earth. For centuries the people 
of Japan have been breeding maples in order to develop varieties 
with unusual and unique characteristics. The development of pigmy- 
maples is a real art in Japan. For cenuries they have been fashion- 
ing these miniature trees, and now there is an established custom in 
Japan to hold annual Maple Shows, which are in many ways similar 
to the Rose Shows of America. 

While the Japanese maples excel in variety and uniqueness, the 
American maples are unrivaled in the World in size, beauty, and 
commercial value. No other group of our native trees show such 
a wide variation in form and structure as do the maples. They range 
in size from large commercial timber trees to small trees and 
shrubs. The leaves of many of them are simple but a few have com- 
pound leaves. The twigs of some are slender, while those of others 
are stout; their.xolor may be green, gray, brown, or red. Maple 
flowers may occur in small lateral clusters, in long drooping tassels, 
or in erect spikes. On some maples the flowers appear before the 
leaves, while on others they appear with or after the leaves. The 
fruit of the maple is very distinctive. It consists of a pair of 
winged seeds which is called a maple-key. Each kind of maple tree 
bears its own distinctive key-like fruit, which can readily be dis- 
tinguished from that of all other maples. 

The maples occur on a wide range of habitats. The ash-leaved 
maple grows at its best along the streams and along the border of 
ponds and lakes. The sugar maple prefers well drained, rich soil. 
The striped maple is satisfied in shaded and moist places, while the 
mountain maple thrives on dry, rocky hillsides and mountain tops. 

Of the thirteen maples native to the United States, nine occur 
east of the Rocky Mountains, and six of these are native to Penn- 
sylvania. The six maples native to Pennsylvania are: 

COMMON NAMES SCIENTIFIC NAMES 

1. Sugar Maple; Hard Maple. Acer saccharum. 

2. Silver Maple; Water Maple. Acer saccharinum. 

3. Red Maple; Soft Maple. Acer rubrum. 

4. Ash-leaved Maple; Box Elder. Acer negundo. 

5. Striped Maple; Moosewood. Acer pennsylvanicum. 

6. Mountain Maple ; Spotted Maple. Acer spicatum. 

The maples as a group have so many different characteristics 
and such striking features that they can be distinguished with little 
effort from all other groups of trees at every season of the year. 
They are readily distinguished from other trees, but some of them 
are so closely related to each other that it is difficult to tell them 
apart. The following table gives the distinguishing characteristics 
of the four big maples of Pennsylvania : 



62 



2 
< 
> 

> 

2 

a* 
o 



O 

i— i 

PQ 
O 

w 

HI 
H 

W 
N 

o 
o 
o 

w 
« 

o 



o 

X 



3 05 i C jf.5 

l£| ag|g 

°ft' -. - » 



S is 
a S> p! ft 



33 



-i.= 



-Sa" gp 

£ :i - a) 

.S -d -C ° o 
rs d ^d o 



^ * m 

o o> -° 
ft a 

■£"£ £ 
d2& 
■5 ° 



02 P-C ► 



A 09 




.s -° 


3-g^ 


•'M 






"3d 


o> 


> M 1 






a; cj c 

■=,2 -3 


"3 




0) 






o 2 S 


h 2 


















03T3 








is* 


3 Si 

ft'c 


SS3 


V.sJ 



S o 



5 fen 



■§ B*S 



ssi * 



d ai 



Bj ISS-2 



A ft 


h 


<a> 
























?d 


»5 


0; 




fcu 


> be 


£ s 




!3 41 










,S 05 






"* <u ° 








Mb ^ 




!*■? 


O 3 






L ' 5 s a 

. d 


^O. 


eg 

50,2 5j 


S 9 



4> +j 
Sao d. 

a m 

hi p 



s>> 



Bag 1 



S 0) 


H 









S 


O 




O 








.O 




W 








.a B 












10 ti 


01 

0) -w 




,a 2 














w ft 
3 


.d 

Is 




ft 




ti d 




=S g 




ft' 


a t< 


ft 


33SS 


<h a 



cm 



H 



■5 >»« 

a a) 05 



Wd 



flnrt 



1^» 






■y 

a x d 

a p 
w<» d 



s i 



•B K C 

05 p B 

3 d a) 

all 



■g bd 

^ga 



« : 5 * 



e m 

.2 to 
a o5~_ 



2 w 

bo 



Ba 



53 















ia 








a 

> 


O 




s 




a 


g 


g 





2 



THE SUGAR MAPLE 

The sugar maple is the best known hardwood tree native to 
eastern North America. It is found from Newfoundland to Mani- 
toba and south to Florida and Texas. It occurs in every state east, 
of the Mississippi, but is not abundant in the South. It reaches its 
best development from New England across New York and 
northern Pennsylvania to Michigan. All who have visited the 
northwoods know the beauty, stateliness, and healthy appearance 
of this prince among our forest trees. 

The sugar maple is fortunate in having a number of appropriate 
common names. The name sugar maple is appropriate for it pro- 
duces annually large quantities of sweet sap. It is also called hard 
maple because its wood is hard in comparison with that of the other 
maples which are often grouped under the name Soft Maple. The 
name rock maple is also appropriate, because its wood is extremely 
hard. 

The wood of Sugar Maple has a wide range of uses, and the 
farmer boy regards this tree as a real friend, for when tapped it pro- 
duces large quantities of sap from which the delicious maple sugar 
and maple syrup are manufactured. This tree has yielded as high 
as 550,000 pounds of maple sugar and 275,000 gallons of maple 
syrup in a sing'le season in Pennsylvania. This shows that the value 
of the tree lies not only in the fine wood that it produces but also 
in other products that it yields. 

At all seasons of the year the sugar maple may be distinguished 
with little difficulty. The grayish to black bark on old trunks, rough- 
ened by shallow fissures, is always distinctive. The slender, brown 
twigs, marked with pale dots, are also positive means of identifica- 
tion. In summer its large, simple, and compound leaves, with 
coarsely-toothed lobes and delicate texture enable one to recognize 
it. 

There is no more positive distinguishing characteristic of the 
sugar maple than its buds. They are brown in color, sharp-pointed, 
conical, and covered with 8 to. 16 exposed scales. They are clustered 
at the ends of the twigs, and occur solitary and opposite each other 
along the side of the twigs. If seen but once, the twigs bearing these 
distinctive buds cannot be confused with those of any other native 
forest tree. 

The fruit of the sugar maple does not mature until about Septem- 
ber. It often persists far into winter, while that of the red maple 
and silver maple ripens in early summer. The seeds of the sugar 
maple germinate soon after falling to the ground, and the seedlings 
form a dense mat on the forest floor. The writer has counted as 
many as 50,000 small sugar maple seedlings on a single acre of 




LEAVES OF THREE COMMON PENNSYLVANIA MAPLES. 
Left to right : Ash-leaved maple, silver maple, sugar maple. 




LEARN TO KNOW THE INTRODUCED MAPLES. 
At the left is the leaf of theNorway maple, and at the right that of the sycamore mapl**. 




1 )ISTINCTIVE 

WINTER 

TWIG OF 

SUGAR 

MAPLE. 



SUGAR MAPLE. FLOWUHS. FRUIT. AND LEAVES 




FLOWERS. LEAVES. ANP FRUIT OF STLVEK MAPLE, 



66 

forest land in northern Pennsylvania, and similar plots are common 
in New York, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 

The wood of the sugar maple is well known and widely used. It 
touches our hands and satisfies our wants almost daily. We use it 
more frequently and in a greater number of ways than any other 
wood. It may be classified as an all-purpose wood, for it is used in 
the manufacture of at least 500 distinct articles of commerce. It 
makes the best wooden floor and is one of our chief furniture woods. 
Large quantities are used in the manufacture of broom handles, re- 
frig-erators, kitchen cabinets, toothpicks, children's toys, musical in- 
struments, and agricultural implements. It is difficult to think of 
any common household article that is not, at one time or another, 
made from sugar maple wood. 

The sugar maple tree is quite common in Pennsylvania. In fact, 
it is the commonest tree in the State. It is not equally common in 
all parts of the State, but is more abundant in the northern, north- 
western, and northeastern parts of the State than in the southern 
and southeastern parts. It is a member of the northern hardwood 
forest, and becomes less common as one enters the southern hard- 
wood forests which extend northward into Pennsylvania along the 
river valleys. 

The sugar maple is one of our most dependable forest trees. It 
grows rather slowly, but it keeps growing steadily for a long while, 
and in time it attains a large size. One of the largest sugar maple 
trees known in Pennsylvania stands near Eagles Mere. It is a 
forest giant and towers high above all other surrounding trees. It 
is almost 4 feet in diameter, at breast high, and does not bear a 
single lateral branch for 60 feet from the ground. An occasional 
sugar maple reaches a height of 120 feet with a diameter of 5 feet, 
but specimens of this size are rare. 

The sugar maple deserves to be protected and propagated for 
forestry and ornamental purposes. It produces wood which ranks 
among the best, yields delicious syrup and sugar, lives long, fur- 
nishes excellent shade, and possesses some of the cleanest and most 
beautiful features of any American forest tree. As a memorial tree 
the sugar maple has few equals, and as an avenue or roadside tree 
it ranks among the best. 

RED MAPLE 

The red maple never forgets its common or scientific name. At 
all seasons of the year some part of this tree is distinctly red. Early 
in spring red clusters of flowers appear all along the twigs, and red 
are the wings of its key-like fruit that matures during May and June. 
In summer there is a tinge of red on the leaf-stalks and veins of the 
leaves, and in autumn red maple may be found that stands out 



67 

among its neighbors as a flaming torch. The scientific name of the 
red maple is Acer rubrum. This name is appropriate for the word 
"rubrum" means red. Other common names of this tree are soft 
maple, which refers to the softness of its wood, and swamp maple, 
ji name given to this tree because it makes its best growth in swampy 
places. 

The range of the red maple covers more than 1,000,000 square 
miles, and touches every state east of the Mississippi River, and west 
of it, occurs from South Dakota to Texas. It is found locally 
throughout Pennsylvania. It is common to abundant in the regions 
traveresed by rivers and their main tributary streams. It prefers 
rather wet to swampy ground, but also makes a satisfactory growth 
on hillsides and often attains large dimensions in fertile farm wood- 
lots in the agricultural valleys of the State. Big red maple trees some- 
limes exceed 100 feet in height and are more than four feet in dia- 
meter. Their average size is about seventy feet in height and two 
feet in diameter. The largest forest-grown red maple tree recorded 
in Pennsylvania stands in the woodlot of Jacob Meyers, near Coburn 
in Centre County. It is almost 4 feet in diameter and free from 
lateral branches for 50 feet from the ground. 

The red maple can be recognized in summer by its simple, rather 
small, 3 to 5-lobed leaves, which are pale green to whitish on the 
lower surface, and darker green upon the upper surface. The clefts 
between the lobes of the leaves are shallow and sharp-pointed at the 
base. The latter characteristic distinguishes it from the closely- 
related silver maple which has clefts that are rounded at the base. 
In winter the red maple is bare of foliage, and displays its distinc- 
tive dark-gray bark; also its clean, smooth, grayish branches, and 
its bright red twigs, loaded rather heavily with clusters of winter 
buds and dotted with numerous white breathing pores known as 
lenticels. In winter it is rather difficult to distinguish the red maple 
from the silver maple. The latter, however, usually lacks the lus- 
trous red twigs of the former and if one breaks the twigs of the 
silver maple they give off a rather pungent odor not found in the 
red maple. 

The wood of red maple is about three-fourths as strong as that 
of the sugar maple, and is considerably lighter in weight. In color 
the wood is light brown, sometimes slightly tinged with red. The 
sapwood is rather thick, and lighter in color than the heartwood. 
Lumbermen know the difference between the red maple and out 
other native maples, but they do not consider it worth while to pile 
and sell the wood separately. It sometimes comes upon the market 
as hard maple, and at other times as soft maple, but never is it sold 
under the name of red maple. The wood is manufactured into floor- 
ing, veneer material, and interior finish. Large quantities of it are 








*r 







" • • 







A BIG RED MAPLE. 
Many big maples are found in Pennsylvania. This one is 4 
feet in diameter and clear of branches for 40 feet from the 
groaai. 




BARK OF SILVER MAPLE. 
Scaly bark and shallow furrews are the main distinpnisbinj 
characteristics of the silver maple bark. 



70 

also being used for pulpwood. It is also sawed into veneer which 
is made up into berry boxes and peach and potato baskets. Its sap 
is also collected and manufactured into sugar and syrup, but in 
smaller quantities than that of the sugar maple. In the days of 
the pioneer, ink and dyes were made from its bark, which also 
yielded small quantities of tannin. 

There is a place in our forests for the red maple. It is tolerant 
of shade, grows rather rapidly, and becomes a big forest tree. It 
deserves a place in the understory of the forest, and, when an op- 
portunity presents itself, it will grow up into the upperstory of the 
forest and produce valuable lumber. 

If there is one maple that excels all other maples in beautiful color- 
ation in the forest it must be the red maple. It also thrives when 
planted along streets and in parks, but it is rather short-lived and 
requires plenty of moisture. 

SILVER MAPLE 

The silver maple is one of the best known of the Pennsylvania 
maples, for it has a wide natural distribution and has been planted 
extensively as a shade and ornamental tree. It is a favorite with 
those who desire to secure shade with as little delay as possible, for 
it grows rapidly and is adapted to a great variety of soils, but does 
not flourish upon dry situations. It likes moist to wet places such 
as are found along river banks and borders of ponds. 

The silver maple has a number of common names. Lumbermen 
usually call it soft maple because the wood is much softer than that 
of the sugar or hard maple. It is also known as white maple and 
silver-leaved maple, because the lower leaf surfaces are white or 
silvery white in color. Other common names are river maple, swamp 
maple, and water maple. These names refer to the habitat upon 
which this tree is usually found. 

In summer the silver maple may be easily recognized by the 
silvery white under-surface of the leaves. The bases of the deep 
leaf-clefts of the silver maple are rounded, while those of the red 
maple are sharp-angled. The silver maple blossoms very early in 
spring before the leaves make their appearance. In fact, it is among 
the earliest of our native trees to bloom. In most localities the 
flowers appear before those of the red maple. They usually occur 
in compact, small clusters along the twigs, for each lateral bud 
usually contains from three to five blossoms ranging in color from 
reddish to crimson and are favorites with the honey bees which 
swarm around them on the first warm days of spring. Its fruit ma- 
tures early in summer and is larger than that of any other of our 
native eastern maples. The bark is somewhat furrowed and separ- 
ates into long scales which are often loose at both ends and ?+- 



71 

tached at the middle. This is a helpful distinguishing characteristic 
at all seasons of the year. The bending down of the branches and 
the distinctive upward sweep of their small ends is also a helpful 
means of identification. In winter the silver maple can be distin- 
guished from all other maples, excepting the red maple, by its nu- 
merous round, red, clustered buds ; and from the red maple it may be 
distinguished by its bright chestnut-brown twigs which give forth 
a pungent odor if broken. 

The silver maple occurs from New Brunswick and Ontario south- 
ward to Florida, and west to Oklahoma and the Dakotas. It is 
usually found along the banks of streams, borders of swamps, and 
other wet places. Tn Pennsylvania it is common along the banks of 
the principal rivers and their main tributaries. Along these streams 
it is commonest at the lower altitudes where it, together with the 
ash-leaved maple and the river birch, sometimes makes up 90 per 
cent of the trees along the river banks ; but as one goes into the 
mountains and ascends to higher altitudes the tree becomes rarer and 
about the headwaters of the streams it is often entirely absent. 

The silver maple may attain a large size upon favorable situations. 
It is not unusual to find a tree one hundred feet in height and from 
three to four feet in diameter. The wood is much softer than that 
of the sugar maple, but it is used for a wide range of purposes. It 
is especially prized in the manufacture of fruit baskets and berry 
boxes. 

It is planted extensively for ornamental purposes, for it possesses 
attractive features. It is one of the first trees to bloom in spring, 
has an attractive clean bark, and produces beautiful leaves, and if 
grown in the open its outline and poise suggests an elm. A beautiful 
cut-leaf variety with a weeping habit has been developed and is 
being used rather extensively for formal planting. Before planting 
the silver maple for ornamental purposes, one should know that it 
is short-lived and its branches are so brittle that they are frequently 
broken off in winter by the wind and snow and ice pressure. 

THE ASH-LEAVED MAPLE 

The ash-leaved maple has ten or more common names. Among 
them are box elder, three-leaved maple, and water ash. There is 
no g*ood reason why this tree should be called an elder or an ash, 
except that its leaves are compound. This characteristic is not suf- 
ficient reason for calling it a box elder or water ash, for it would 
be equally correct to call it a hickory or walnut, since these trees 
also bear compound leaves. 

This tree is clearly a maple. Its fruit is a distinct maple-key and 
cannot be confused with the fruit of any other forest tree. Its com- 
pound leaves do not necessarily take it out of the maple group, for 



72 

the leaves uf some of our native maples are deeply lobed. and it i^ 
not a long step to the compound leaf with three leaflets. 

The natural range of the ash-leaved maple does not fall far short 
of 3,000,000 square miles, and is equaled by few other forest trees. 
It is found from New England across Canada to Alberta, and thence 
south to Florida, Texas, and Mexico. It thrives in hot and cold 
climates, and grows well at high and low altitudes and in regions of 
much and little rain. The fact that it is such an adaptive tree ac- 
counts for its wide use in the early days by tree planters in the 
prairie regions. It was planted more extensively than any other 
tree by the homesteaders in the Middle West. Its rapid growth 
afforded early protection against the scorching summer sun and the 
strong winter winds. It was also among the first street trees in 
many of the western towns. The people planted it because they 
knew it would grow, and they were not so sure about some of the 
ether trees. Now better trees have been found and they are willing 
to replace the ash-leaved maple by more valuable and better species. 

The ash-leaved maple is most abundant in the eastern and south- 
ern part of Pennsylvania. It is quite common and attains a large 
size along the streams in the southwestern part of the State, and is 
the prevailing tree along the Conococheague Creek in Franklin 
County and other streams and rivers in southern Pennsylvania. As 
one follows these streams into the mountains, the Ash-leaved Maple 
becomes rarer and it is usually entirely absent at higher elevations 
in the northern and central part of Pennsylvania. 

The ash-leaved maple differs from all other maples in that it has 
compound leaves with from three to five leaflets. The other maples 
of the eastern United States have simple leaves. It also differs from 
the other maples found within its range by the fact that it usually 
produces its pollen-bearing and fruit-producing flowers on separate 
trees, while both pollen-bearing and fruit-producing flowers of the 
other native maples usually occur on the same tree. This striking 
difference was formerly regarded sufficient reason to place the tree 
in a distinct group all by itself, but now it is again classed with the 
other maples under the technical name Acer. 

Perhaps the most attractive feature of the ash-leaved maple is the 
rich color of its twigs. They are gorgeously olive-green and usually 
covered with a white bloom, and stand out boldly against the sky- 
line. Its stout twigs may. in part, be responsible for the name of 
water ash. The large, ovate, and downy buds are also distinctive. 
They occur opposite each other and are usually arranged in small 
clusters along the twig. The leaf-scars completely encircle the 
twigs, and their edges meet in such a way as to form a sharp angle. 
The twigs and the buds are so distinctive that this tree can readily 



be recognized during the winter months from all associated forest 
trees. 

The fruit of the ash-leaved maple resembles that of the other 
maples, but the maple-keys are arranged in drooping clusters and 
persist far into winter. It is not unusual to find the fruit clusters 
remaining upon the trees until spring. The seeds are scattered dur- 
ing four or five months of the year, and because of the large number 
that are produced the future of this tree is quite secure. 

The bark on the older tree trunks is rather thick and distinctly 
furrowed, and it rarely breaks up into scales. The bark bears more 
resemblance to that of the ashes and basswoods than to other maples. 
This feature of the tree may be partly responsible for calling it 
water-ash. 

The wood of ash-leaved maple is the lightest of the maples. It 
weighs less than 27 pounds to the cubic foot, and is manufactured 
into boxes, crates, flooring, woodenware, and locally into furniture. 
The tree reaches commercial size in at least thirty states, and in 
everyone of them it is cut and marketed. Recent tests show that 
wood pulp manufactured from it is satisfactory, and it is also used 
by distillation plants with the other maples, beech, and birch, and 
converted into charcoal and other products of distillation. 

The ash-leaved maple deserves a place in our forests, and it may 
also be planted for ornamental purposes, but great care should he 
taken in selecting places upon which to plant it. It will grow well 
if set out in soil adapted to it, but one should remember that it 
prefers moist to wet soil. It will make its best growth if planted 
along the borders of streams or about ponds and lakes. If planted 
upon favorable situations it wilt grow fast and produce a dense and 
satisfactory shade. As a shade tree it has the advantages of rapid 
growth, dense foliage, and pleasing color. It is also comparatively 
free from the attack of fungi and insects. The chief objection to it 
as an ornamental tree is its habit of always shedding something. 
The blossoms litter the ground in spring, the seeds are dropped from 
early winter until springtime, and the leaves fall in and out of season. 

TWO SMALL PENNSYLVANIA MAPLES 

The two Tom Thumb maples of Pennsylvania are the mountain 
maple and the striped maple. Neither of these trees attain a size 
sufficiently large to classify them as timber trees, but both are so at- 
tractive and have such striking distinguishing characteristics that 
they deserve a place in our forests and in ornamental plantings. To 
those people who are fortunate enough to spend their summer 
vacations in the mountainous parts of the Northwoods, the moun- 
tain maple and the striped maple are familiar sights. Over large 
regions these shrubs or small trees are found along highways, by the 
margin of trout brooks, and about ponds and lakes. Both of them 




ERECT FLOWER, SPIKES, AND LEAVES OF THE MOUN- 
TAIN MAPLE. 




FLOWERS, LEAVES, FRUIT OF THE 
STRIPED MAPLE. 



75 



are satisfied to take their place in the under-story of the forest, while 
others of their kin reach up high and struggle for a place in the 
upper-story of the forest. The following table gives the striking 
distinguishing characteristics of these two beautiful small maples : 





MOUNTAIN MAPLE. 


STRIPED MAPLE. 


TORM AND SIZE, 


Shrub or small tree, rarely 
over 15 feet high ; often occurs 
in clumps. 

Usually 3-lobed, coarsely 
toothed, 3-5 inches long, light 
hairy on lower surface. 

Occur in erect spikes, 3 to 
4 inches long. 

Small maple key about £ 
inch long, arranged in dense 
drooping clusters. 

On twigs reddish brown to 
gray ; on stem reddish brown 
dotted with gray blotches. 

Prefers rocky situations on 
mountain tops and hillsides. 


Small tree, usually 15-30 
feet high. 


LEAVES, 


Goosp-foot-like, 5-6 inches long. 
3-lobed at apex, finely toothed, 
prominently veined ; rusty 
hairs on lower surface. 


FLOWERS, 


Occur in drooping tassels 8 
to 4 inches long. 


FRurr, 


Small maple key about § of 
an inch long, arranged in open 
drooping clusters. 


BARK, 


On twigs reddish ; on stem 
reddish brown streaked with 
long white lines. 


HABITAT, 


Prefers moist situations in 
dense woods. 



THE MOUNTAIN MAPLE 

The mountain maple has an appropriate common name, for it i> 
a mountain tree. One usually finds it on moist rocky hillsides and 
along the border of ravines and highways. It seldom reaches a 
height greater than 20 or 25 feet. In the Northwoods it is usually 
small, often occurs in clumps, and occasionally it forms dense thick- 
ets. In the South it becomes larger and it is not unusual to find 
specimens that stand alone. In western North Carolina one can find 
trees with a breast-high diameter up to 12 inches. 

The mountain maple is native from Newfoundland to Manitoba, 
south to Michigan and Pennsylvania, and extends along the Alle- 
gheny Mountains to Georgia. In Pennsylvania it is found locally 
in all parts of the State. It is rare in the eastern and western parts, 
and common in the mountains of central and northern Pennsylvania. 
The natives of Potter County call this tree "spotted maple" because 
of the gray dots that are spotted over the reddish brown bark. 

The mountain maple can be distinguished by its simple 3 to 5- 
lobed and coarsely-toothed leaves. They are smaller, more evidently 
lobed, less conspicuously veined, and less hairy on the lower leaf 
surface than those of the striped maple. The new twigs of early 
summer are greenish and more or less downy, but after the leaves 
drop in autumn the small twigs have a rather distinct reddish brown 
to crimson color. If one examines the twigs closely there is seen 
upon them a whitish coating of fine hairs which enables one to dis- 
tinguish the mountain maple from all other closely-related trees. 



76 

The flowers of the mountain maple do not appear until early 
summer — a short while after the leaves have reached full size. They 
are arranged in. erect spikes at the end of the new growth. No other 
native maple has its white flowers arranged in such conspicuous 
erect spikes. The fruit matures slowly during the summer, ripens in 
autumn, and often remains upon the trees far into winter. During 
late summer and early fall the key-fruits often take on wonderful 
hues of red, and may furnish one of the most attractive features of 
the landscape. The individual fruit-keys are smaller than those of 
any other native maple and are clustered on slender drooping stalks. 

The mountain maple is of practically no commercial importance 
as a timber tree, but it is valuable as a soil protector on rocky slopes, 
and very desirable for ornamental purposes. It seems strange that 
this tree is not more widely used in landscape gardening, for at al! 
seasons of the year it possesses attractive features. It is very hardy, 
and apparently free from insect and fungous enemies. This tree 
has enough good points to justify a more extensive planting for or- 
namental purposes. 

THE STRIPED MAPLE 

The striped maple is one of the most distinctive members of the 
under-story of the forests of the Northwoods. Anyone who has 
wandered through the mountains of the North or the Alleghenies 
must have met this beautiful little tree. It is usually found beneath 
the big monarchs of the forest, and one cannot miss it for it is so 
beautiful and its white-streaked bark compels attention. 

In summer the striped maple is easily recognized by the large 
goose-foot-like leaves which have a rather thin blade and are 
fashioned with a delicate network of veins. The upper surface of 
the leaves is dark green, while the lower surface is considerably 
lighter in color and clothed with short rusty brown to reddish hairs 
The margins of the leaves are finely-toothed, and the leaf-blade i^ 
divided into three more or less conspicuous lobes. In spring and 
early summer, just when the leaves are about fully developed, the 
drooping clusters of beautiful yellow flowers dangle down from the 
twigs. The individual flowers are small, bell-ishaped, and greenish 
to yellow in color. They cannot be confused with those of any other 
maple. The fruit is a typical small maple key with the wings united 
at a rather wide angle. It matures early in autumn, and there are 
about 15,000 seeds per pound. 

The best way to distinguish the striped maple, also known as 
moasewood and whistlewood, is by its beautiful striped markings 
on the bark. The bark is generally some hue of green, or red, and 
streaked through it are conspicuous white lines. This characteristic 
is responsible for the name "streaked maple" which is used by the 



77 

inhabitants of Potter and adjoining counties in Pennsylvania. In 
winter the large evidently^stalked buds covered with two smooth 
bud-scales, the smooth reddish-brown twigs, and the brown pith will 
enable anyone to distinguish this beautiful and distinctive small 
forest tree. 

The striped maple has practically no commercial value as a forest 
tree, but its attractive features recommend it highly for ornamental 
purposes and as a member of the under-story of our natural forest^ 
it is worthy of our best care and protection. 

TWO FOREIGN MAPLES 

Two European maples have been planted widely for shade and 
ornamental purposes in Pennsylvania. They are the norway maple 
and the sycamore maple. It is difficult to find a town or city within 
the State in which one of these trees has not been planted, and in 
many places fifty or more per cent of all the street trees are Norway 
and sycamore maple. These two well-known and widely distributed 
foreign trees have a number of features in common, but they can be 
distinguished from each other at all seasons of the year by the 
characteristics set forth in the following table. 



BARK, 



LEAVES, 



FLOWERS, 



FRUIT, 



BtJ>S, 



NORWAY MAPLE. 



Black, furrowed, not scaly. 



Flexible, large, 
toothed, almost 



SYCAMORE MAPLE 



Brown, scaly, not furrowtd 



margin, smooth on lower 
surface, resembles Sugar 
Maple ; leaf-stalks contain 
milky sap. 



coarsely- Firm, 3 to 5-lobod, sharp 
entire on ly-toothed on margin, slightly 



Arranged in yellowish green 
clusters. 



Large maple-key with wide- 
ly divergent wings. 



'Large and red. 



hairy on lower surface ; leaf 
stalks do not contain milkj 
sap. 



Arranged in erect spikre 
about 3 inches long. 



Small maple-key with almost 
parallel wings. 



Large and green. 



NORWAY MAPLE 

The norway maple comes to us from Europe, where it is foun< : 
from Norway to Switzerland. In its native home it reaches a heigh; 
of 100 feet and a diameter of 3 feet. It is occasionally used for forest 
purposes, but its main value is as a street, shade, and ornamental 
tree. 

The norway maple can readily be distinguished in summer by its 
large leaves, which resemble those of the sugar maple, but they are 
deeper green in color and firmer in texture. Its large-toothed and 
almost entire-margined leaves are readily distinguished from the 
3 to 5-lobed and smaller leaves of the sycamore maple. A chacter- 



7* 

istic by which the norway maple can always be identified is the 
presence of milky sap in the leaf-stalks, for no other maple of Penn- 
sylvania has this rare characteristic. The milky sap flows freely if 
the leaf-stalks are twisted or pressed. Another feature by which 
this tree may be recognized in spring and early summer is its yellow- 
ish green flowers. They are produced in large numbers and arranged 
in dense clusters along the twigs. They come out of the same buds 
as do the leaves, and blossom when the leaves are from one-third to 
one-half developed. 

In winter this tree can be recognized by its large red, blunt-pointed 
and glossy buds. They are usually bright red but may be more or 
less olive green at the base especially in autumn before they are 
mature. The lateral buds stand close to the twigs while those of 
the sycamore maple project outward. The fruit of the norway 
maple does not ripen fully until late in summer or early autumn. 
They are larger and more beautiful and distinctive in form than 
those of any of our native maples. These key-fruits have wide 
divergent wings, which enables one to distinguish this tree from all 
other maples. Many of the key-fruits remain upon the tree after the 
leaves have fallen. Sometimes they hang upon the trees all winter, 
and because of their large size and distinctive form are helpful in 
recognizing this tree during winter months. 

The norway maple is one of the most attractive of our ornamental 
trees and is unquestionably the best maple that we have for street 
use. It is especially adapted for city planting because it is tolerant 
of unfavorable city conditions. It is also hardy, rather free from the 
attacks of insects and fungi, and retains its leaves longer in fall than 
our native maples. 

SYCAMORE MAPLE 

The sycamore maple, like the norway maple, is a European tree, 
ft takes its name from the fact that its leaves are supposed to 
resemble those of a sycamore. In central Europe it attains a 
height of 120 feet, and develops a large spreading crown. The 
trunk is sometimes furrowed, and the bark flakes off in thin scales. 
In its habit of growth it follows the norway maple, except that its 
top is not so compact, and it is also less tolerant of soil conditions 
and consequently is not planted so extensively as its European 
brother. 

The sycamore maple is readily distinguished by its firm 3 to 5- 
lobed leaves with sharp-toothed margins. The clefts in the leares 
are sharp-angled, and the lower leaf-surface is usually somewhat 
hairy. In winter the large blunt-pointed green buds, the bud-scales 
of which usually have a black margin, are a sure means of identifica- 
tion. Its leaf-scars do not quite encircle the twigs, while those of 



71) 

the norway maple reach completely around the twig's. The little 
dots on the twigs known as lenticels are more numerous on the 
sycamore maple than on the norway maple. The lateral buds of 
the sycamore maple stand out from the twigs, while those of the 
norway maple hug the twigs closely. The fruit-keys of the syca- 
more maple are smaller and their wings less divergent than those of 
the norway maple. These characteristics enable one to distinguish, 
the two widely introduced European maples at all seasons of the 
year. 

The sycamore maple is not so hardy as the norway maple, not 
is there anything distinctive about the tree to make it preferable to 
our native hard maple. It is often attacked by borers and does not 
thrive on all kinds of soil. There exists no good reason for planting 
this foreign maple on an extensive scale in Pennsylvania. 

WHERE TO STUDY TREES 

The place to study our trees is not so important as the time to 
begin getting acquainted with them. The thing to do is to start 
studying them to-day, and not wait until to-morrow or next week. 
If you live in a city and it is not convenient or possible to go out in 
the woods, you may study the trees along the streets or in the parks. 
The small woodlots, fence rows, stream banks, and abandoned fields 
are much better places. But, the best place for a real study of our 
native trees is the remote wildwoods, that is, the extensive and 
natural forests on our mountain slopes, hilltops, and valleys. 

In the woods of Pennsylvania there are more than 100 different 
kinds of native trees, and when one observes them in the remote 
mountain regions they look so natural and fresh. Associated with 
them are many other plants and a large number of animals. If you 
are really anxious to learn to know the trees and can possibly do so, 
take a hike to the wildwoods and there observe the wonders of nature 
and study the works and ways of the wild folks. 

No woods within the State are better equipped for tree study than 
the State Forests. In 1897, the State of Pennsylvania, through its 
Department of Forestry, began buying land for forestry purposes. 
To date (January 1, 1922) 1,126,237 acres have been purchased at an 
average cost of $2.26 per acre. This large area is now being de- 
veloped so that it will yield not only wood, but be of the greatest 
service to the inhabitants and visitors of the State. 

In order to handle the state-owned land properly, the aggregate 
area has been divided into State Forests, each one of which is in 
charge of a technically trained Forester, who aims to manage the 
land in his care in the best interests of the public. 

An increasing number of people are annually seeking the advan- 
tages and benefits of a few weeks of real out-of-door life on the 
State Forests. The Foresters will help you select a suitable camp 



80 

site, tell yen about the streams, springs, roads, trails, and look-out 
towers, and even help teach the boys and girls about the trees, 
shrubs, herbs, and other plants and animals of the forest. 

WHERE THE STATE FORESTS ARE LOCATED 

Most of the State Forests of Pennsylvania are located in the moun- 
tainous part of the State. They are wide open for use and contain 
some of the best playgrounds and rest places. If you are planning 
a trip to the mountains, a week in the woods, or some other out-of- 
door doings, it may save you much money and eliminate a lot of 
worry if you look over the following table, which tells you where 
the forest land now (January 1, 1922) owned by the State of Penn- 
sylvania is located : 

COUNTY ACRES 

1. Adams, 20,887 

2. Bedford, 10,756 

3. Cameron, 83,055 

4. Centre, 79,388 

5. Clearfield, : 64,875 

6. Clinton, 143,829 

7. Cumberland, 21,720 

8. Dauphin, 3,808 

9. Elk, 22,767 

10. Franklin, 34,677 

11. Fulton, • 6,355 

12. Huntingdon, 62,249 

13. Jefferson, 5,681 

14. Juniata, 3,534 

15. Lackawanna, 5,275 

16. Lycoming, 104,306 

17. Mifflin, ' 50,383 

18. Monroe, 6,400 

19. Perry, 29,468 

20. Pike, 58,109 

21. Potter, 158,785 

22. Snyder, 19,087 

23. Somerset, 3,467 

24. Tioga, 66,941 

25. Union, 54,193 

26. Westmoreland, 5,065 

27. Wyoming 1,177 

Total, 1,126,237 

YOU ARE WELCOME ON THE STATE FOREST 

The people of Pennsylvania own over one million acres of forest 
land which is being administered for them by the Department of 
Forestry. Every acre of this vast area, which comprises some of the 



► 

8 

a 
o 

m 




.11 iiS . iliffflltJ 



3 Go ■ 5 






» ' 2 zj 



Si.' 

moat attractive camp sites, finest fishing streams, and best hunting 
ground within the State, is open for public use. 

You do not need a pass to go on the State Forests and to enjo> 
yourself. They are neither surronded with high stone walls or 
barbed wire fences, nor with signboards bearing the words "No 
Trespassing", "Closed", or "No Admittance". Instead each forest 
is wide open for business and for play. 

All that will be required of you is to obey a few simple rules- 
which all good citizens of the State are always willing to do. There 
is no red tape to this proposition of public use of State Forest land. 
It is a whole-hearted plan which aims to be of the greatest service 
and utmost benefit to all the people of the State. 

Remember that you are always welcome on the State Forests of 
Pennsylvania. The Foresters in charge of them will be delighted 
to show you over the woodland areas in their care. They will do 
more than merely greet you, for one of their duties is to help you 
locate a suitable camp site and tell you how to get a camping permit. 
They will explain to you the rules and regulations of the forest and 
direct you to fine fishing streams. They will also point out good 
roads, attractive trails, beautiful vistas, wonderful look-outs, and 
in addition tell you many interesting things about forestry. 

FACTS ABOUT PENNSYLVANIA STATE FORESTS 

The original forests covered practically every acre of ground in 
Pennsylvania. More than thirteen million acres are still classified 
as forest land, but about five millions are barren and unproductive. 
This is the Pennsylvania Desert. 

The Department of Forestry began purchasing forest land in 1898. 
The total area of forest land owned by the State (January 1, 1922) 
was 1,126,237 acres. The average price paid per acre was $2.26. 

Forestry is a business enterprise. A concise financial statement 
pertaining to the State Forests follows : 

Total purchase price t $2,546,407.71 

Total amount expended for administration, develop- 
ment and improvement 5,182,262.68 

Total investment and expenditures 7,728,670.39 

Amount deposited in State school fund 241,793.64 

Net expenditure 7,486,876.75 

Estimated present value of forests $12,255,439.51 

Net expenditures 7,486,876.75 

Met gain on investment $4,768,562.76 



83 

The Department of Forestry has paid for road, school and county 
taxes $616,040.17 to the counties in which the State Forests are 
located. 

There are 60 Foresters and 82 Forest Rangers in the employe of 
the Department of Forestry. 

There are 2,628 local and special Forest Fire Wardens in the 
State who watch for and fight forest fires. 

There are 422 State-owned buildings on the State Forests valued 
at $306,329.39. 

Approximately 2,000 miles of forest boundaries have been sur- 
veyed, cleared, and marked. 

More than 4,000 miles of roads, trails, and fire lines have been 
constructed and are being maintained. 

During 1921, 400 temporary camping permits were issued to 5,000 
persons. 

More than 750 leases for permanent camp sites have been issued. 

Seventy steel fire look-out towers have been erected by the De- 
partment of Forestry for the purpose of detecting forest fires, and 
four steel towers were erected by the Anthracite Forest Protective 
Association. 

Three forest tree nurseries are maintained by the Department of 
Forestry, which are producing from five to eight million trees each 
year. 

A total of 34,222,596 trees have been planted on State Forests. 
The plantations now cover 22,468 acres. 

During the last twelve years private planters have received from 
the Department of Forestry 14,627,006 trees, which were set out in 
all parts of the State. 

Within the State Forests are many of the best places to rest, 
finest fishing streams, best hunting grounds, and grandest views 
within the State. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



I 



002 81 



8 51 



08 



